GOOD MARCHES 



them, so as to keep them apart. It is possible that 

 we have reached the windless area around the Pole, 

 for the Barrier is a dead, smooth, white plain, weird 

 beyond description, and having no land in sight, we 

 feel such tiny specks in the immensity around us. 

 Overhead this afternoon, when the weather cleared, 

 were wonderful' lines of clouds, radiating from the 

 south-west, travelling very fast to the north-east. 

 It seems as though we were in some other world, and 

 yet the things that concern us most for the moment 

 are trivial, such as split lips and big appetites. Already 

 the daily meals seem all too short, and we wonder what 

 it will be like later on, when we are really hungry. I 

 have had that experience once, and my companions will 

 soon have it again with me. All the time we are moving 

 south to our wished-for goal, and each day we feel that 

 another gain has been made. We did 15 miles 500 yards 

 to-day. 



November 19. — Started at 8.15 this morning with 

 a fresh southerly breeze and drift. The temperature 

 was plus 2° Fahr., and this* was the temperature all 

 day, making it cold travelling, but good for the ponies, 

 who, poor beasts, had to plough through a truly awful 

 surface, sinking in 8 or 10 in. at every step. This 

 does not seem very deep, but when one goes on hour 

 after hour it is a strain on man and horse, for we have 

 to hold the ponies up as they stumble along. In spite 

 of the surface and the wind and drift, we covered 15 

 miles 200 yards (statute) by 6 p.m., and were glad to 

 camp, for our beards and faces were coated in ice, and our 

 helmets had frozen stiff on to our faces. We got sights 

 for latitude at noon, and found that we were in latitude 

 80° 32' South. On the last journey I was not in that 

 latitude till December 16, though we left Hut Point 

 on November 2, a day earlier than we did this time. 



283 



