THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



Erebus sending out a huge volume of steam, that 

 streams away to the south-west right past Mount 

 Discovery, fifty miles from its crater. Again this 

 afternoon we passed an Adelie penguin track. The 

 bird was making the same course as the one we had 

 passed before. At 6.30 p.m. we camped, having done 

 fifteen statute miles. After dinner we got bearings 

 which put us forty-seven miles from our depot. I do 

 trust that the weather will hold up till we reach it. It 

 is cold to-night writing, the temperature being minus 

 9° Fahr. The land to the south-south- west is beautifully 

 clear. 



November 13. — No diary yesterday, for I had a bad 

 attack of snow-blindness, and am only a bit better 

 to-night. We did a good march yesterday of over 

 fifteen miles over fair surface, and again to-day did 

 fifteen miles, but the going was softer. The ponies 

 have been a trouble again. I found Quan and China- 

 man enjoying the former's rug. They have eaten all 

 the lining. The weather has been beautifully fine, 

 but the temperature down to 12° below zero. The 

 others' eyes are all right. Wild, who has been suffering, 

 has been better to-day. Snow-blindness is a particu- 

 larly unpleasant thing. One begins by seeing double, 

 then the eyes feel full of grit; this makes them water 

 and eventually one cannot see at all. All yesterday 

 afternoon, though I was wearing goggles, the water 

 kept running out of my eyes, and, owing to the low 

 temperature, it froze on my beard. However, the 

 weather is beautiful, and we are as happy as can be, 

 with good appetites, too good in fact for the amount of 

 food we are allowing ourselves. We are on short 

 rations, but we will have horse meat in addition when 

 the ponies go under. We have saved enough food 

 to last us from our first depot into the Bluff, where, 



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