A DEPOT PARTY 



night, and on the morning of the 18th they got 

 under way again. The dogs had been buried under the 

 drift by the bhzzard, only their noses showing at the sur- 

 face, and it was necessary to dig them out before they 

 could be harnessed up. A seven-foot sledge was loaded 

 with 300 lb. of store from the depot at the Tongue, and 

 the four men took on the two sledges, with a total weight 

 of 800 lb. They had a heavy day's work, over 

 soft ice and snow-drift, but reached the old Discovery 

 winter quarters at Hut Point at midnight. The dogs 

 pulled very well, and seemed to be enjoying their 

 work after the long spell of semi-idleness at Cape 

 Royds. 



On the morning of the 19th the party proceeded 

 on to the Barrier. The surface was fairly good, and the 

 dogs ran practically all the time, Joyce finding it neces- 

 sary to put two men on the sledge in order to reduce the 

 speed, for the men would not travel at the pace set by 

 the dogs. The weight per dog was well over 100 lb., 

 though only one sledge had been taken on from Hut 

 Point. The temperature was low during the days that 

 followed, and the men's beards were constantly coated 

 with ice, but their progress was rapid. On January 23, 

 when they were travelling over a deep snow surface 

 covering sastrugi, they sighted a depot about three 

 miles to the west of their course. This was the depot 

 at which some pony fodder had been left in the spring. 

 Soon after this the party came upon crevasses running 

 at right angles to their course, and the travelling became 

 difficult. Joyce had the members of the party roped 

 together, as the crevasses were hidden by treach^erous 

 snow lids and were therefore dangerous. The crevasses 

 became worse in the following two days. Some of the 

 pressure ridges were over thirty feet in height, running 

 in an east-south-east and west-north- west direction^ 



63 



