THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



of Professor David, Mawson and Mackay, had started 

 on the journey that was to result in the attainment of 

 the South Magnetic Pole. I had instructed the Pro- 

 fessor, who was in command of this party, to get away 

 on October 1, or as soon after that date as weather and 

 other circumstances would permit. On September 25 

 Professor David, Priestley and Day took 850 lb. of stores 

 for the northern journey out into the middle of the 

 sound, a distance of about fourteen miles, by means of 

 the motor-car. Day had intended to go to Dinley Isles, 

 but sastrugi that stretched right across the ice of the 

 sound prevented this. The sastrugi were in places 

 two feet deep, and the wheels could get no grip in the 

 soft snow, into which they sank deeply. Some very 

 bad cracks were encountered, including one two feet 

 wide, but the machine bumped over without damage. 

 A second load of stores was taken out by the car on 

 October 3, some bad weather having intervened. Pro- 

 fessor David, Day, Priestley and Mackay went out on 

 this occasion, and the journey produced a larger crop 

 of minor accidents than usual, though men were always 

 liable to sustain cuts and bruises when handling the car 

 at a low temperature and in difficult situations. Priestley 

 got a nail torn off, the Professor jammed a finger in 

 the front wheel, and Mackay suffered a Collis fracture 

 of the wrist from the starting handle. One crack that 

 lay across the course delayed the party for two hours, 

 and the front axle was bent by another crack, into which 

 the wheels dropped when the car was travelling at a speed 

 of about twelve miles an hour. 



The Northern Party finally left the winter quarters 

 on October 5, picked up their stores where the motor- 

 car had deposited them, and began their long journey 

 over the sea ice along the coast. Day carried them 



242 



