THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



stead of that we are lying in a little tent, isolated 

 high on the roof of the end of the world, far, indeed, 

 from the ways trodden of men. Still, our thoughts 

 can fly across the wastes of ice and snow and across 

 the oceans to those whom we are striving for and 

 who are thinking of us now. And, thank God, we 

 are nearing our goal. The distance covered to-day was 

 11 miles 250 yards. 



December 25. — Christmas Day. There has been 

 from 45° to 48° of frost, drifting snow and a strong 

 biting south wind, and such has been the order of the 

 day's march from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. up one of the steepest 

 rises we have yet done, crevassed in places. Now, as 

 I write, we are 9500 ft. above sea-level, and our latitude 

 at 6 p.m. was 85° 55' South. We started away after 

 a good breakfast, and soon came to soft snow, through 

 which our worn and torn sledge-runners dragged heavily. 

 All morning we hauled along, and at noon had done 

 5 miles 250 yards. Sights gave us latitude 85° 51' 

 South. We had lunch then, and I took a photograph 

 of the camp with the Queen's flag flying and also our 

 tent flags, my companions being in the picture. It 

 was very cold, the temperature being minus 16° Fahr., 

 and the wind went through us. All the afternoon we 

 worked steadily uphill, and we could see at 6 p.m. the 

 new land plainly trending to the south-east. This land 

 is very much glaciated. It is comparatively bare of 

 snow, and there are well-defined glaciers on the side 

 of the range, which seems to end up in the south-east 

 with a large mountain like a keep. We have called it 

 " The Castle." Behind these the mountains have more 

 gentle slopes and are more rounded. They seem to 

 fall away to the south-east, so that, as we are going 

 south, the angle opens and we will soon miss them. 

 When we camped at 6 p.m. the wind was decreasing. 



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