THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



altitude, and a temperature of 48° of frost made breath- 

 ing and work difficult. We are getting south — latitude 

 86° 31' South to-night. The last sixty miles we hope 

 to rush, leaving everything possible, taking one tent 

 only and using the poles of the other as marks every 

 ten miles, for we will leave all our food sixty miles off 

 the Pole except enough to carry us there and back. 

 I hope with good weather to reach the Pole on January 

 12, and then we will try and rush it to get to Hut Point 

 by February 28. We are so tired after each hour's 

 pulling that we throw ourselves on our backs for a three 

 minutes' spell. It took us over ten hours to do 14 

 miles 450 yards to-day, but we did it all right. It 

 is a wonderful thing to be over 10,000 ft. up at the 

 end of the world almost. The short food is trying, but 

 when we have done the work we will be happy. Adams 

 had a bad headache all yesterday, and to-day I had the 

 same trouble, but it is better now. Otherwise we are 

 all fit and well. I think the country is flattening out 

 more and more, and hope to-morrow to make 15 miles, 

 at least. 



December 29. — Yesterday I wrote that we hoped to 

 do 15 miles to-day, but such is the variable char- 

 acter of this surface that one cannot prophesy with 

 any certainty an hour ahead. A strong southerly 

 wind, with from 44° to 49° of frost, combined with 

 the effect of short rations, made our distance 12 

 miles 600 yards instead. We have reached an alti- 

 tude of 10,310 ft., and an uphill gradient gave us 

 one of the most severe pulls for ten hours that would 

 be possible. It looks serious, for we must increase the 

 food if we are to get on at all, and we must risk a 

 depot at 70 miles off the Pole and dash for it 

 then. Our sledge is badly strained, and on the abom- 

 inably bad surface of soft snow is dreadfully hard to 



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