THE ROSS SEA PARTY 
all landmarks, sent him into camp on tlie sea-ice. The weather 
was still thick on the folloA\ang morning, and the party, making 
a start after breakfast, missed its way, " We shaped a course 
where I imagined Hut Point to be," wrote Captain Mackintosh 
in his diary, but w^hen the sledge-meter showed thirteen miles 
fifty yards, which is four miles in excess of the distance from the 
ship to Hut Point, I decided to halt again. The surface was 
changing considerably and the land was still obscured. We 
have been travelling over a thick snow surface, in which we 
sink deeply, and the dogs are not too cheerful about it." They 
started again at noon on January 27, w^hen the weather had 
cleared sufficiently to reveal the land, and reached Hut Point 
at 4 p.m. The sledge-meter showed that the total distance 
travelled had been over seventeen miles. Mackintosh found in 
the hut a note from Joyce, who had been there on the 25th, 
and who reported that one of his dogs had been killed in a 
fight with its companions. The hut contained some stores left 
there by earlier Expeditions. The party stayed there for the 
night. Mackintosh left a note for Stenhouse directing him to 
place provisions in the hut in case the sledging parties did not 
return in time to be taken off by the ship. Early next morning 
Joyce reached the hut. He had encountered bad ice and had 
come back to consult with Mackintosh regarding the route to 
be followed. Mackintosh directed him to steer out towards 
Black Island in crossing the head of the Sound beyond Hut 
Point. 
Mackintosh left Hut Point on January 28. He had taken 
some additional stores, and he mentions that the sledge now 
weighed 1200 lb. This was a heavy load, but the dogs were 
pulling well and he thought it practicable. He encountered 
difl&culty almost at once after descending the slope from the 
point to the sea-ice, for the sledge stuck in soft snow and the 
party had to lighten the load and relay until they reached a 
better surface. They were having trouble with the dogs, which 
did not pull cheerfully, and the total distance covered in the 
day was under four miles. The weather was warm and the 
snow consequently was soft. Mackintosh had decided that it 
would be best to travel at night. A fall of snow held up the 
247 
