I9I2] AT BUTTER POINT 287 
Point depot, which we reached that evening, and knew 
we could reach the old Discovery hut before the end of 
the month. 
This depot had been blown over and wrecked generally. 
We took some pemmican, butter, and chocolate, and 
next day proceeded south along the Butter Point pied- 
mont, leaving another note for Pennell. The surface 
was much better than the preceding year, but curiously 
enough we found quite a number of small crevasses. 
Debenham and Forde fell in together in one of these, and 
the burly Irishman jammed so tightly, it was quite a 
business pulling him out of it ! In the evening we reached 
the Strand Moraines. These are great piles of ancient 
silt, gravel, and erratic blocks which were dropped here 
by the ancestor of the present Koettlitz Glacier. At 
the southern end of these moraines — which were several 
miles long — was quite a large lake. We tobogganed 
down to this and across to a nice little gravelly delta just 
made for the tent. We found that the open water reached 
just to this point, the sound still being frozen to southward, 
though obviously breaking away in great sheets. I 
wrote that night : ' No Terra Nova, We should have 
been picked up at Evans Coves (Terra Nova Bay) to- 
morrow.' We had the choice of two routes now. Either 
to cross the snout of the Blue Glacier, or to take to the 
sea ice and coast round the latter. We had done the 
former and knew it would only take a day. The latter 
might be quicker, though a great calved berg blocked 
the route about two miles ahead. Debenham preferred 
the glacier, the other two the sea ice. I made a bet with 
