176 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[November 
about 7 P.M., when we camped. Distance 14 miles. 
Weather fine. The latter part of our march we were 
delayed by pressure ridges running north and south. 
November 3 . — 5 .15 a.m. Weather overcast, surface 
good, with belts of heavy pressure, the ridges running 
north and south. Some of the smooth ice had struck me 
as being rather new ice. At 11.30 our iron-runner sledge 
broke down hopelessly, one side coming off. We had a 
hasty lunch, packed the sleeping-bags, records, and a little 
fresh food on the other sledge, depoted all the remainder, 
and then started on again. The smooth-ice leads between 
the pressure were suspiciously dark and greasy-looking, 
so after going about half a mile we sounded with an ice axe 
and found we were on thin soft ice, which cannot have been 
much more than a day or two old. Turning the sledge 
we went back at a run, not stopping until we got on to 
better ice by the old sledge. Taking the rest of the food 
we then started W.S.W. towards the Eskers. Several 
leads were so new we had to cross them at a run, and 
it was 7.30 before we found sound ice, with no weak 
leads between us and the shore, and then I decided to 
camp. 
November 4.— Weather overcast and warm. We 
turned out at 4.30, and after breakfast Priestley, Abbott, 
and Dickason went back with the empty sledge to get the 
remainder of the depot, and if possible fit on the iron 
runners, while Levick, Browning, and I went back with 
packs to get more food. We had a long tramp to Butter 
Point and back over rough ice, and we had done 18 miles 
before we got back to camp, Levick and I with a 50-lb. 
