284 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [February 
We had been blessed with sunshine the last few days. 
I do not believe we should have managed to dodge the 
crevasses otherwise, for in dull weather you cannot tell 
any difference between a ten-foot hollow or a ten-foot 
hummock when it is only a yard or two away. However, 
as a result of the sunshine Forde had a bad touch of 
snow-blindness. Debenham got out the medical chest. 
He ground up some ZnSO^, picked it up on a paint-brush, 
and dropped it in the corner of Forde's eye. Later in 
the night I gave Forde another dose, for the pain is pretty 
considerable. 
The next day my right eye was sore and watering in 
spite of the amber glasses, and I feared I was to become 
a patient also. We plugged along over an absolutely 
level snow plain, where Debenham, without warning, 
dropped into a crevasse over which I had crossed without 
puncturing the lid. 
In the afternoon my eyes gave out, and I put bandages 
on the right eye, and gave up the lead to Debenham. It 
was an astonishing relief to cease from staring at the glar- 
ing surface, and either pull along with shut eyes or keep 
one eye on the gratefully dirty back of Debenham's 
white woollen jacket ! 
Debenham led us safely past three huge crevasses, and 
we halted for a spell among a cluster of smaller ones. 
That evening we climbed up the snow hill behind Gneiss 
Point about 1350 feet above the sea, and as we had now 
passed the third valley glacier, I felt we had finished with 
the crevasses for the time being. We camped on hard 
snow and Debenham treated me for snow-blindness- 
