THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



we were so tired that it was noon before we woke up. 

 A glance out to sea showed that we had lost nothing by 

 our sleep, for there was a heavy swell running into the bay, 

 and it would have been quite impossible to have landed 

 any stores at all. In the afternoon the ship came in 

 fairly close, but I signalled England that it was useless 

 to send the boat. This northerly swell, which we could 

 hear thundering on the ice-foot, would have been welcome 

 a fortnight before, for it would have broken up a large 

 amount of fast ice to the south, and I could not help 

 imagining that probably at this date there was open water 

 up to Hut Point. Now, however, it was the worst thing 

 possible for us, as the precious time was slipping by, and 

 the still more valuable coal was being used up by the 

 continual working of the ship's engines. Next day the 

 swell still continued, so at 4 p.m. I signalled England 

 to proceed to Glacier Tongue and land a depot there. 

 Glacier Tongue is a remarkable formation of ice 

 which stretches out into the sea from the south-west 

 slopes of Mount Erebus. About five miles in length, 

 running east and west, tapering almost to a point at its 

 seaward end, and having a width of about a mile where 

 it descends from the land, cracked and crevassed all over 

 and floating in deep water, it is a phenomenon which still 

 remains a mystery. It lies about eight miles to the 

 northward of Hut •Point, and about thirteen to the south- 

 ward of Cape Royds, and I thought this would be a good 

 place at which to land a quantity of sledging stores, 

 as by doing so we would be saved haulage at least thirteen 

 miles, the distance between the spot on the southern route 

 and Cape Royds. The ship arrived there in the early 

 evening, and landed the depot on the north side of the 

 Tongue. The Professor took bearings so that there 

 might be no difficulty in finding the depot when the 

 sledging season commenced. The sounding at this spot 



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