tro. }= WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
we moved our camp 1 mile 1200 yards farther on to the 
Barrier and here was erected the main depdt, known as _ 
Safety Camp. ‘Safety’ because it was supposed that even 
if a phenomenal break-up of sea-ice should occur, and take 
with it part of the Barrier, this place would remain. Sub- 
sequent events proved the supposition well founded. This 
short bit of Barrier sledging gave all of us food for thought, 
for the surface was appallingly soft, and the poor ponies 
were sinking deep. It was obvious that no animals could 
last long under such conditions. But somehow Shackleton 
had got his four a long way. 
There was now no hurry, for there was plenty of food. 
It was only when we went on from here that we must 
economize food and travel fast. It was determined to give 
the ponies a rest while we made the depdt and rearranged 
sledges, which we did on the following day. We had with us 
one pair of pony snow-shoes, a circle of wire as a founda- 
tion, hooped round with bamboo, and with beckets of the © 
same material. The surface suggested their trial, which 
was completely successful. The question of snow-shoes 
had been long and anxiously considered, and shoes for all 
the ponies were at Cape Evans; but as we had so lately 
landed from the ship the ponies had not been trained in 
their use, and they had not been brought. 
Scott immediately sent Wilson and Meares with a dog- 
team to see whether the sea-ice would allow them to reach 
Cape Evans and bring back shoes for the other ponies. 
Meanwhile the next morning saw us trying to accustom 
the animals to wearing snow-shoes by exercising them in 
the one pair we possessed. But it seemed no use continuing 
to do this after the dog party came in. They had found the 
sea-ice gone between Glacier Tongue and Winter Quarters 
and so were empty-handed. They reported that a crevasse 
at the edge of the Tongue had opened under the sledge, 
which had tilted back into the crevasse but had run over it. 
These Glacier Tongue crevasses are shallow things; Gran 
fell into one later and walked out of the side of the Tongue 
on to the sea-ice beyond! 
It was determined to start on the following day with five 
