THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



relay the sledges over the last bit, for the ridge we 

 were on was so steep that we could not get the two 

 sledges up together. Still, we are getting on; we 

 have only 279 more miles to go, and then we will have 

 reached the Pole. The land appears to run away to the 

 south-east now, and soon we will be just a speck on this 

 great inland waste of snow and ice. It is cold to-night. 

 I am cook for the week, and started to-night. Every 

 one is fit and well. 



December 21. — Midsummer Day, with 28° of frost! 

 We have frost-bitten ringers and ears, and a strong 

 blizzard wind has been blowing from the south all day, 

 all due to the fact that we have climbed to an altitude 

 of over 8000 ft. above sea-level. From early morning 

 we have been striving to the south, but 6 miles is the 

 total distance gained, for from noon, or rather from 

 lunch at 1 p.m., we have been hauling the sledges up, 

 one after the other, by standing pulls across crevasses 

 and over great pressure ridges. When we had advanced 

 one sledge some distance, we put up a flag on a bamboo 

 to mark its position, and then roped up and returned 

 for the other. The wind, no doubt, has a great deal 

 to do with the low temperature, and we feel the cold, 

 as we are going on short commons. The altitude adds 

 to the difficulties, but we are getting south all the time. 

 We started away from camp at 6.45 a.m. to-day, and 

 except for an hour's halt at lunch, worked on until 

 6 p.m. Now we are camped in a filled-up crevasse, 

 the only place where snow to put round the tents can 

 be obtained, for all the rest of the ground we are on 

 is either neve or hard ice. We little thought that this 

 particular pressure ridge was going to be such an 

 obstacle; it looked quite ordinary, even a short way 

 off, but we have now decided to trust nothing to 

 eyesight, for the distances are so deceptive up here. 



326 



