ch. lxiii] Scoffs Last Expedition 
495 
run across the gap. The dogs were then hauled up two 
by two until eleven of the thirteen were recovered, the 
other two loose ones being on the snow bridge 65 ft. 
down the chasm. Scott made a bowline in the Alpine 
rope and was lowered down. He reached the bridge, 
fastened the first dog to the rope, which was hauled up, 
and then the second. Lastly he himself, with some effort, 
was hauled to the surface. It was all the other three 
could do, the cold being intense and their fingers badly 
frost-bitten. Scott of course was in great danger, but 
he had insisted upon going down. It was characteristic 
of him that "he wanted to take such a good opportunity 
of examining the sides of a crevasse/ ' 
A greater disaster overtook the ponies in the return 
journey, coming from the Barrier on to the sea ice. It 
suddenly broke up, forming lanes of water, and notwith- 
standing every exertion to save them, two were lost on 
the ice and others succumbed to the furious icy gales. 
The year had been quite exceptional in this respect. 
There had already been four furious southerly gales. It 
was not until April 13th that Captain Scott returned to 
Cape Evans. 
The abode for the winter had been carefully planned. 
The walls and roof had a double thickness of boarding, 
with sea-weed on both sides of the frames. On the south 
side Bowers built a long annex to contain spare clothing 
and provisions for immediate use. On the north was the 
stable, and a short distance away was a solid block of ice in 
which two caverns were dug, one for a larder, the other 
for differential magnetic instruments. Near this cavern 
there was a hut for absolute magnetic observations, and 
on a small hill above, on which was a flag-staff, were the 
meteorological instruments. 
The house, below the hill, was on a long stretch of bleak 
sand, with many tons of provision cases ranged in neat 
blocks in front of it. The interior was divided into two 
rooms. Two-thirds of the area was for the 16 officers and 
members of the scientific staff, the other third for the 
9 men 1 . In the officers 1 quarters there was a dark room, 
1 These were Anton and Demetri, the two Russian dog-drivers, and 
seven men of the Royal Navy :— Edgar Evans, Lashly, and Crean, who had 
all been on the Discovery, and Keohane, Forde, Hooper, and Clissold, the 
two latter respectively steward and cook. 
