THE FIRST CREVASSES 



afternoon the course was a devious one. Suddenly 

 Marshall, who was leading Grisi, got his legs into a 

 crevasse, and Grisi also; they recovered themselves, 

 and Marshall shouted out to me. I stopped my horse 

 and went to his assistance in getting the sledge off the 

 snow-bridge covering the chasm. The crevasse was 

 about 3 ft. wide, with the sides widening out below. 

 No bottom could be seen. The line of direction was 

 north-west by south-east. I at once altered the course 

 to east, but in about a quarter of an hour Wild, Adams 

 and Marshall got into a narrow crevasse, so I stopped 

 and pitched camp, to wait until the weather cleared 

 and we could get some idea of our actual position. This 

 was at 3 p.m., the sledge meter recording 9 miles 1200 

 yards (statute) for the day. At 4 p.m. it commenced 

 to drift and blow, and it is blowing hard and gustily 

 now. It is very unfortunate to be held up like this, 

 but I trust that it will blow itself out to-night and be 

 fine to-morrow. The ponies will be none the worse 

 for the rest. We wore goggles to-day, as the light was 

 so bad and some of us got a touch of snow-blindness. 



November 6.— Lying in our sleeping-bags all day 

 except when out feeding the ponies, for it has been blow- 

 ing a blizzard, with thick drift, from south by west. 

 It is very trying to be held up like this, for each day 

 means the consumption of 40 lb. of pony feed alone. 

 We only had a couple of biscuits each for lunch, for I 

 can see that we must retrench at every set-back if we 

 are going to have enough food to carry us through. We 

 started with ninety-one days' food, but with careful 

 management we can make it spin out to 110 days. If 

 we have not done the job in that time it is God's will. 

 Some of the supporting party did not turn out for any 

 meal during the last twenty-four hours. Quan and 

 Chinaman have gone their feeds constantly, but Socks 



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