FRESH FOOD 



in the rear of the sledge were rattled up somewhat 

 when it struck bottom, but no harm was done. At 

 the bottom we had some trouble in getting the sledge 

 over the gaping tide-cracks, some ten to fifteen feet deep 

 and three to five feet wide. 



Arrived at the middle of the floor of the barranca, 

 Mackay killed two Emperor penguins, and took their 

 breasts and livers to replenish our exhausted larder. 

 Meanwhile, Mawson crossed to the far side of the floor 

 of the barranca on the look-out for a possible spot 

 where we might swarm up. I joined him a few minutes 

 later, and as I was feeling much exhausted after the 

 continuous forced marches back from the Magnetic 

 Pole, asked him to take over the leadership of the ex- 

 pedition. I considered that under the circumstances 

 I was justified in taking this step. We had accom- 

 plished the work assigned to us by our leader, having 

 reached the Magnetic Pole. We were within two or 

 three miles of our Drygalski Depot, and although the 

 only food left there was two days' supply of broken 

 biscuits with a little cheese, we had a good prospect of 

 meat-supply, as the barranca abounded in seals and 

 penguins, so that for the present we had no reason to 

 apprehend the danger of starvation. On the other 

 hand, as regards our ultimate personal safety, our 

 position was somewhat critical. We were not even 

 certain that the Nimrod had arrived at all in Ross Sea 

 that season, though we thought it, of course, very 

 probable that she had. In the next case, on the as- 

 sumption that she had arrived, it was very possible that 

 in view of the great difliculties of making a thorough 

 search along the two hundred miles of coast, at any part 

 of which we might have been camped — difficulties 

 arising from heavy belts of pack-ice and icebergs, as 

 well as from the deeply indented character of that bold 



203 



