THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



it? " One gets somewhat callous as regards the immedi- 

 ate danger, though we are always glad to meet crevasses 

 with their coats off, that is, not hidden by the snow 

 covering. To-night we are camped in a filled-in crevasse. 

 Away to the north down the glacier a thick cumulus 

 cloud is lying, but some of the largest mountains are 

 standing out clearly. Immediately behind us lies a broken 

 sea of pressure ice. Please God, ahead of us there is a 

 clear road to the Pole. 



December 23.— Eight thousand eight hundred and 

 twenty feet up, and still steering upwards amid great 

 waves of pressure and ice-falls, for our plateau, after 

 a good morning's march, began to rise in higher ridges, 

 so that it really was not the plateau after all. To-day's 

 crevasses have been far more dangerous than any others 

 we have crossed, as the soft snow hides all trace of 

 them until we fall through. Constantly to-day one or 

 another of the party has had to be hauled out from 

 a chasm by means of his harness, which had alone saved 

 him from death in the icy vault below. We started at 

 6.40 a.m. and worked on steadily until 6 p.m., with the 

 usual lunch hour in the middle of the day. The pony 

 maize does not swell in the water now, as the tempera- 

 ture is very low and the water freezes. The result is 

 that it swells inside after we have eaten it. We are 

 very hungry indeed, and talk a great deal of what we 

 would like to eat. In spite of the crevasses, we have 

 done 13 miles to-day to the south, and we are now in 

 latitude 85° 41' South. The temperature at noon was 

 plus 6° Fahr. and at 6 p.m. it was minus 1° Fahr., but 

 it is much lower at night. There was a strong south- 

 east to south-south-east wind blowing all day, and it 

 was cutting to our noses and burst lips. Wild was 

 frost-bitten. I do trust that to-morrow will see the end 



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