LAYING THE DEPOTS 
put them up 200 yds. apart, enables us to advance, and it seems 
that this weather will never break. We have cut up an old 
pair of trousers belonging to Richards to place on the sides of 
the cairns, so as to make them more prominent. It was really 
surprising to find how wc got on in spite of the snow and the 
pie-crust surface. We did 5 miles 75 yds. before lunch. The 
dogs are doing splendidly. I really don't know how we shoiild 
manage if it were not for them. . . . The distance for the day 
was 10 miles 720 yds., a splendid performance considerhig 
surface and weather." 
The weather cleared on the 14th ; and the men were able 
to get bearings from the mountains to the westward. They 
advanced fairly rapidly during succeeding days, the daily dis- 
tances being from ten to twelve miles, and reached lat. 82*^ S. 
on the morning of January 18. The depot here, like the depot 
at 81'' S., contained five days' provisions for twelve men. 
Mackintosh was having trouble Avith the Primus lamp in his 
tent, and this made it inadvisable to divide the party again. 
It was decided, therefore, that all should proceed, and that 
the next and last depot should be placed on the base of Mount 
Hope, at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier, in lat. 83° 30' S. 
The party proceeded at once and advanced five miles beyond 
the depot before camping on the evening of the 18th. 
The sledge loads were now comparatively fight, and on the 
19th the party covered 13 miles 700 yds. A new trouble was 
developing, for Spencer-Smith was suffering from swollen and 
painful legs, and was unable to do nmch pulling. Joyce wrote 
on the 21st that Smith was worse, and that Mackintosh was 
showing signs of exhaustion. A mountain that he believed to 
be Mount Hope could be seen right ahead, over thirty miles 
away. Spencer-Smith, who had struggled forward gamely and 
made no unnecessary complaints, started with the party the 
next morning and kept going until shortly before noon. Then he 
reported his inability to proceed, and Mackintosh called a halt. 
Spencer-Smith suggested that he should be left with provisions 
and a tent while the other members of the party pushed on to 
Mount Hope, and pluckily assured Mackintoshthat the rest would 
put him right and that he would be ready to march when they 
281 
