ch. lxivJ Scotfs Last Expedition 501 
wind blowing with the thermometer at - 22° Fahr. and 
a curious damp cold feeling in the air. "This is an awful 
place/' writes Scott, "and terrible enough for us to have 
laboured to it without the reward of priority." 
A cairn was built on the South Pole, and the Union 
Jack was hoisted. The altitude was 9500 ft. a descent 
of 1000 ft. from 88° S. 
On the 19th January the return march was com- 
menced, and they had a very hard time before them. 
Oates was feeling the cold more than the others, and 
Evans was never the same man after leaving the Pole. 
These were danger signals ; both got frost-bitten so easily. 
There seems to be nothing in the Arctic regions to be 
compared with the wonderful storm-tossed sastrugi which 
here so perplexed and delayed them. On January 31 the 
Three-Degree Depot was reached. The 9th February 
was a grand day. They steered for a moraine under 
Mount Buckley, which proved so interesting that Scott 
determined to spend the day there geologising. Above 
them rose a perpendicular cliff of sandstone, weathering 
rapidly and carrying veritable coal seams. Wilson found 
several plant impressions, one a piece of coal with beauti- 
fully-traced leaves in layers. There were some excellently 
preserved impressions of thick stems, showing cellular 
structure. Altogether they had a most interesting after- 
noon, "and the relief of being out of the wind and in 
a warmer temperature is inexpressible." Some 35 lb. 
weight of fossils were taken on the sledge. This discovery 
throws most important light on the geological history of 
Antarctica. 
The return journey was continued. On February 
16th poor Evans had quite collapsed in mind and body. 
He caused much delay and the rest felt that they were in 
a desperate position with a sick man on their hands at 
such a distance from home. Here was the risk which 
could not be foreseen, and which seemed so unlikely to 
arise. All that the very best arrangement can possibly 
do is to leave a margin for detentions. That margin had 
been overpassed, and there was danger. The arrange- 
ments were admirable, the depots fairly easily found, but 
their contents were not calculated for such a long deten- 
tion. 
