THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



" When you are in the Western Mountains, please do 

 the same at one place, taking possession of Victoria Land 

 as part of the British Empire. 



" If economic minerals are found, take possession of 

 the area in the same way on my behalf as Commander of 

 this expedition. 



" Yours faithfully, 



"(Sgd.) Ernest H. Shackleton, 



" Commander." 



We had a farewell dinner that night, given in honour 

 of the Southern Depot Party who were about to start 

 to lay out a depot one hundred miles southerly from 

 our winter quarters. 



The following day, September 20, a strong south- 

 easterly blizzard was blowing. In the afternoon the wind 

 somewhat moderated, and there was less drift. Mackay 

 had been making a sail for our journey to the Magnetic 

 Pole, and we now tried the sail on two sledges lashed 

 together on the ice at Backdoor Bay. We used the 

 tent poles of one of the sledging-tents as a mast. The 

 wind was blowing very strongly and carried off the two 

 sledges with a weight on them of 300 lb., in addition 

 to the weights of Mackay and myself, who were sit- 

 ting on the sledges. We considered this a successful 

 experiment. 



The weather continued bad till the night of the 24th. 



On September 25 we were up at 5.30 a.m., and found 

 that the blizzard had subsided. Priestley, Day and I 

 started in the motor-car, dragging behind us two 

 sledges over the sea ice. One sledge, weighing alto- 

 gether 606 lb. with its load, contained five of our fort- 

 nightly food-bags, six large tins of biscuits, and 60 lb. 

 of oil. The other sledge, which with its load weighed 



Y6 



