268 
SCOT'FS LAST EXPEDITION 
[January 
conjecture that the Discovery made no mention of this 
imposing tongue because it was not imposing in 1902 ! is 
very likely correct. It may easily have been several miles 
shorter when Captain Scott first saw the Rendezvous 
Bluff. 
The date of our relief now approached. Captain Scott 
wrote : * It will certainly be wise for you to confine your 
movements to the region of Granite Harbour during the 
second week in January. . . . You will of course make 
every effort to be at the rendezvous at the proper time, 
January 15.' 
There was nothing further to do near Cape Geology. 
One of the most difficult portions of our retreat was the 
nine miles between Cape Geology and the mouth of 
Granite Harbour. I decided — after consulting the others 
— to leave for Cape Roberts on the 14th, for there we 
should also be in a better position to see the ship, while 
if the bay ice ^ went out ' there was no feasible way out of 
the cul-de-sac at Cape Geology. 
We packed up all we should require at Terra Nova 
Bay — where we were to spend the last four weeks of 
summer — and left the 600 lbs. of specimens, spare boots, 
&c., at Cape Geology, where they could be picked up by 
the ship. 
We moved off at 7.30 on the 14th. We had a very 
heavy load for one sledge — 900 lbs. I believe — but I 
hoped we could pull it without relaying. The surface was 
bad, being several inches deep in new-fallen snow. We 
took an hour to do the first mile and then had to cross one 
of the many wide shear cracks. These were twenty feet 
