THE DEPOT JOURNEY 167 
how to look after your footgear, handle metal and not to 
waste time. However, the sun was still well up during the 
day, and this makes all the difference, since any sun does 
more drying of clothes and gear than none at all. At the 
same time we began to realize the difficulties which attend 
upon spring journeys, though we could only imagine what 
might be the trials on a journey in mid-winter, such as we 
intended to essay. 
It is easy to be wise after the event, but, in looking 
back upon the expedition as a whole, and the tragedy 
which was to come, mainly from the unforeseen cold of the 
autumn on the Barrier (such as minus forties in February) 
it seems that we might have grasped that these tempera- 
tures were lower than might have been expected in the 
middle of March quite near the open sea. Even if this 
had occurred to any one, and I do not think that it did, 
I doubt whether the next step of reasoning would have 
followed, namely, the possibility that the interior of the 
Barrier would, as actually happened, prove to be much 
colder than was expected at this date. On the contrary 
I several times heard Scott mention the possibility of the 
Polar Party not returning until April. At the same time 
it must be realized that pony transport to the foot of 
the Beardmore Glacier made a late start inevitable, for 
the blizzards our ponies had already suffered proved that 
spring weather on the Barrier would be intolerable to them. 
Asa matter of fact, Scott says in his Message to the Public, 
“no one in the world would have expected the tempera- 
ture and surfaces which we encountered at this time of the 
year.” 
We returned to find everything at Hut Point, includ- 
ing the hut, covered with frozen spray. This was the 
result of a blizzard of which we only felt the tail end on 
the Barrier. Scott wrote: ‘‘The sea was breaking con- 
stantly and heavily on the ice foot. The spray carried right 
over the Point—covering all things and raining on the roof 
of the hut. Poor Vince’s cross, some 30 feet above the 
water, was enveloped in it. Of course the dogs had a 
very poor time, and we went and released two or three, 
