THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



fully clear day, and all the well-known mountains are 

 clearly visible. The coast trends about south by east, 

 so that we are safe for a good long way south. We 

 camped at noon and got a good meridian altitude and 

 azimuth. We found our latitude to be 81° 8' South. 

 In the afternoon we steered a little to the east of south, 

 and camped at 6 p.m. with 15 miles 250 yards (statute) 

 to the credit of the day. This is good, for the ponies 

 have a heavy load, but they are well fed. We were 

 rather long at lunch camp, for we tried to pull out 

 Adams' tooth, which has given him great pain, so 

 much that he has not slept at night at all. Rut the 

 tooth broke, and he has a bad time now. We were 

 not equipped on this trip for tooth-pulling. Wild is 

 better to-day, but fatty food is not to his taste just 

 now, so he had a good feed of horse-flesh. We all 

 liked it, for it filled us well, in spite of being somewhat 

 tough. The flavour was good and it means a great saving 

 of our other food. The temperature has risen to plus 

 7° Fahr., and the surface of the Rarrier is good for sledge- 

 hauling. 



November 23. — Our record march to-day, the distance 

 being 17 miles 1650 yards statute. It has been a 

 splendid day for marching, with a cool breeze from the 

 south and the sun slightly hidden. The horses did 

 very well indeed, and the surface has improved, there 

 being fairly hard sastrugi from the south. We are 

 gradually rising the splendid peaks of Longstaff and 

 Markham. The former, from our present bearing, 

 has several sharp peaks, and the land fades away in 

 the far distance to the south, with numbers of peaks 

 showing, quite new to human eyes. All the old familiar 

 mountains, towards which I toiled so painfully last 

 time I was here, are visible, and what a difference it 

 is now! To-night there is a fresh wind from what 



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