THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



oil had got mixed up with the food, we were unable to 

 do justice either to the hoosh or to the cocoa which 

 followed it, and were still fairly empty when the drift 

 ceased and we turned out to face the blizzard, pack 

 the sledge and start for home. The ascent of the 

 mountain had, of course, to be abandoned. I put on 

 my damp finnesko and went out to help, but in less than 

 five minutes, though the temperature was plus 22° 

 Fahr., I was back in the tent with the front portions 

 of both feet frozen, and we took half an hour to bring 

 them round by beating, massaging and rubbing with 

 snow. This latter remedy, Marston's favourite, is a 

 very drastic one, and as painful as any I know, for the 

 Antarctic snow is invariably in small sharp crystals, 

 very brittle and hard. We all chafed very much at 

 the unavoidable delay, as there was every sign of a 

 renewal of the blizzard and the drift, but fortunately we 

 got under way before any drift rose, and the wind was 

 rather in our favour. We left all the provisions 

 there, and unanimously named the nunatak ' Misery 

 Nunatak,' and we were about as glad to leave the place 

 as a soul would be to leave purgatory. We also left a 

 tin of biscuits and some oil with a view to a future attempt 

 at an ascent, to be made by Murray, Day, Marston and 

 Joyce. 



" There was a remarkable contrast between the 

 wind-swept surface of the glacier and the surface over 

 which we had toilsomely dragged the sledges during 

 our day's journey outward. Instead of a uniform 

 carpet, six inches deep, of soft snow, varied with drifts 

 up to one's knees, we found patches of glacier ice, 

 larger stretches of neve, and hard drifts of snow, on 

 which neither our weight nor the weight of the sledge 

 made the slightest impression; these drifts were deeply 



34 



