SAVING FOOD 



on the way back, we will pick up another depot that 

 is to be laid out by Joyce during January next. I 

 trust we will pick up the depot to-morrow night and 

 it will be a relief, for it is a tiny speck in this snowy 

 plain, and is nearly sixty miles from the nearest land. 

 It is much the same as picking up a buoy in the North 

 Sea with only distant mountains for bearings. We are 

 now clear of the pressure round the Bluff, and the 

 travelling should be good until we reach the depot. 

 On the spring journey we got into the crevasses off 

 the Bluff, these crevasses being due to the movement 

 of the ice-sheet impinging against the long arm of the 

 Bluff reaching out to the eastward. Close in the pressure 

 is much more marked, the whole surface of the Barrier 

 rising into hillocks and splitting into chasms. When 

 the summer sun plays on these and the wind sweeps 

 away the loose snow, a very slippery surface is presented, 

 and the greatest care has to be exercised to prevent the 

 sledges skidding into the pits, often over 100 ft. deep. 

 As one gets further away from the area of disturbance 

 the ridges flatten out, the pits disappear, and the crevasses 

 become cracks. We are now on to level going, clear of 

 any dangers. 



November 14. — Another beautiful day, but with a 

 low temperature (minus 7° Fahr. at 6 p.m.). During 

 the morning there was a wind from the west-south- west, 

 bitterly cold on our faces and burst lips, but the sun 

 was warm on our backs. The ponies pulled well, and 

 in spite of somewhat deep snow they got on very well. 

 We stopped at noon for bearings, and to get the sun's 

 altitude for latitude, and at lunch worked out our 

 position. We expected to see the depot to-night or 

 to-morrow morning, but during the afternoon, when 

 we halted for a spell, we found that our "ready use" 

 tin of kerosene had dropped off a sledge, so Adams 



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