SOUTH 
was not sufl&cient open water to allow us to launch the boats 
with any degree of safety. We had been on the march for 
seven days ; rations were short and the men were weak. They 
were worn out with the hard pulling over soft surfaces, and 
our stock of sledging food was very small. We had marched 
seven and a half miles in a direct line and at this rate it would 
take us over three hundred days to reach the land away to the 
west. As we only had food for forty-two days there was no 
alternative, therefore, but to camp once more on the floe and 
to possess our souls with what patience we could till conditions 
should appear more favourable for a renewal of the attempt to 
escape. To this end, we stacked our surplus provisions, the 
reserve sledging rations being kept lashed on the sledges, and 
brought what gear we could from our but lately deserted 
Ocean Camp. 
Our new home, which we were to occupy for nearly three 
and a half months, we called " Patience Camp." 
106 
