5 
old hut in such a desolate condition. I had had so much 
interest in seeing all the old landmarks and the huts ap- 
parently intact. To camp outside and feel that all the 
old comforts and cheer had departed was dreadfully heart- 
rending.’’? 
That night ‘‘ we slept badly till the morning and, there- 
fore, late. After breakfast we went up the hills; there was 
a keen S.E. breeze, but the sun shone and my spirits re- 
vived. ‘There was very much less snow everywhere than I 
had ever seen. ‘The ski run was completely cut through in 
two places, the Gap and Observation Hill almost bare, a 
great bare slope on the side of Arrival Heights, and on top 
of Crater Heights an immense bare table-land. How de- 
lighted we should have been to see it like this in the old 
days! The pond was thawed and the confervae green in 
fresh water. The hole which we had dug in the mound in 
the pond was still there, as Meares discovered by falling © 
into it up to his waist, and getting very wet. 
‘On the south side we could see the pressure ridges 
beyond Pram Point as of old—Horseshoe Bay calm and 
unpressed—the sea-ice pressed on Pram Point and along 
the Gap ice front, and a new ridge running around C. 
Armitage about 2 miles off. We saw Ferrar’s old thermo- 
meter tubes standing out of the snow slope as though 
they’d been placed yesterday. Vince’s cross might have 
been placed yesterday—the paint was so fresh and the in- 
scription so legible.”’ ® 
We had two officers who had been with Shackleton in 
his 1908 Expedition—Priestley, who was in our Northern 
Party, and Day, whowas in charge of our motors. Priestley 
with two others sledged over to Cape Royds and has left an 
account of the old hut there : 
“After pitching tent Levick and I went over to the hut 
to forage. On the way I visited Derrick Point and took a 
large seven-pound tin of butter while Levick opened up 
the hut. It was very dark inside but I pulled the boarding 
down from the windows so that we could see all right. It 
98 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 122. 
2 [bid. pp. 122-123. 
