RELAY WORK 



tent. A fairly strong wind was still blowing from the 

 south-east, raising low drift. We slept that night on the 

 floe-ice, with about three hundred fathoms of water under 

 our pillow. 



The following morning, October 6, we started our 

 relay work. We dragged the Christmas Tree sledge 

 on first, as we were specially liable to lose parcels off it, 

 for a distance of from one-third to half a mile. Then 

 we returned and fetched up what we called the Plum 

 DulF sledge, chiefly laden with our provisions. The 

 light was dull, and a certain amount of soft, newly-fallen 

 snow made the sledging heavy. The weather may be 

 described as thick, with snow falling at intervals. 

 During the afternoon it cleared somewhat and the 

 Western Mountains came into view at about 2 p.m. 

 This was fortunate for us, as it enabled us later on 

 to sight the flag over our fifteen-mile depot. We camped 

 that night amongst screw pack-ice within less than a mile 

 of this depot. 



The following day, October 7, was beautifully fine 

 and cahn. We started about 9 a.m. and sledged over 

 pressure ice ridges and snow sastrugi, reaching our 

 fifteen-mile depot in three-quarters of an hour. Here 

 we camped and repacked our sledges. We took the whole- 

 meal plasmon biscuits out of two of the biscuit tins and 

 packed them into canvas bags. This saved us a weight 

 of about 8 lb. 



We started again in the afternoon, relaying with the 

 two sledges. The sledging again was heavy on account 

 of the fresh, soft snow, and small sastrugi. We had a 

 glorious view of the Western Mountains, crimsoned in the 

 light of the setting sun. We camped that night close 

 to a seal hole which belonged to a fine specimen of 

 Weddellseal. We were somewhat disturbed that night 

 by the snorting and whistling of the seals as they came 



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