THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



the Barrier ice, and the amount of the snowfall. The 

 depot had been laid six years previously on bearings 

 off the Bluff, and after its original position had been 

 ascertained as exactly as possible, the distance to the 

 bamboo pole was measured off by Day and Marston 

 with a forty-foot length of rope, which had been 

 measured off with a tape-measure. The distance was 

 found to be 9600 ft., and the direction of the movement 

 was about east-north-east. The Barrier ice at this 

 point must therefore be moving forward at the rate of 

 about 1500 ft. a year. The party then worked till 

 1 A.M. digging down in order to find what depth of 

 snow had been deposited on top of the depot during 

 the six years. It was found that the level at which 

 the stays of the depot pole had been made fast was 

 eight feet three inches down in hard compressed snow. 

 A measured quantity of this snow was melted in order 

 to ascertain the actual amount of the snowfall. The 

 interesting points involved in these investigations will 

 be dealt with in the reports on the scientific work of the 

 expedition. 



The party started north again on the following day, 

 and covered a distance of thirty-three miles. The dogs 

 pulled splendidly, and three men were able to ride on 

 the sledge. On the second day crevasses were en- 

 countered again, and several times men fell through 

 to the length of their harness. The general direction 

 of the crevasses was east-south-east and west-south- 

 west. The party had a narrow escape from complete 

 disaster at this stage. " We were going at a good trot 

 over a very hard surface," wrote Joyce, " when I felt 

 my foot go through. I called out ' Crack! ' and rushed 

 the dogs over, and as the sledge touched the other 

 side of the hard ridge, the whole snow-bridge over 

 which we had passed fell in. Marston, who was running 



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