LAYING THE DEPOTS 
party in 1908. He dug down in the hope of finding some 
stores, but the depot had been cleared. The party reached the 
Bluff depot on the evening of the 21st and found that Mackin- 
tosh had been there on the 19th. Mackintosh had left 178 lb. 
of provisions, and Joyce left one sledge and 273 lb, of stores. 
The most interesting incident of the return journey was the 
discovery of a note left by Mr. Cherry Garrard for Captain 
Scott on March 19, 1912, only a few days before the latter 
perished at his camp farther south. An upturned sledge at 
this point was found to mark a depot of dog-biscuit and motor- 
oil, laid by one of Captain Scott's parties. Joyce reached 
Safety Camp on the afternoon of the 27th, and, after dumping 
all spare gear, pushed on to Hut Point in a blizzard. The 
sledges nearly went over a big drop at the edge of the Barrier, 
and a few moments later Stevens dropped down a crevasse to 
the length of his harness, " Had a tough job getting him up, 
as we had no alpine rope and had to use harness," wrote Joyce. 
Got over all right and had a very hard pull against wind and 
snow, my face getting frost-bitten as I had to keep looking up 
to steer. We arrived at the hut about 7.30 p.m. after a very 
hard struggle. We fomid the Captain and his party there. 
They had been in for three days. Gaze was also there with the 
dogs. We soon had a good feed and forgot our hard day's 
work." 
Mackintosh decided to make use of the dogs on the second 
journey to the Bluff depot. He thought that with the aid of 
the dogs heavier loads might be hauled. This plan involved 
the dispatch of a party to Cape Evans to get dog-pemmicaa. 
Mackintosh himself, with Wild and Spencer-Smith, started 
south again on October 29. Their sledge overturned on the 
slope down to the sea-ice, and the rim of their tent-spread was 
broken. The damage did not appear serious, and the party 
soon disappeared round Cape Armitage. Joyce remained in 
charge at Hut Point, with instructions to get dog-food from 
Cape Evans and make a start south as soon as possible. He 
sent Stevens, Hay ward, and Cope to Cape Evans the next day, 
a ad busied himself with the repair of sledging-gear. Cope, 
Hayward, and Gaze arrived back from Cape Evans on Novem- 
277 
