i66 
scorrs last expedition 
[February 
whistle. Then at a shrill blast Bowers wheels slightly 
to the left, his tent mates lead still farther out to get the 
distance for the picket lines ; Oates and I stop behind 
Bowers and Evans, the two other sledges of our squad 
behind the two other of Bowers'. So we arc drawn up in 
camp formation. The picket lines are run across at right 
angles to the line of advance and secured to the two 
sledges at each end. In a few minutes ponies are on the 
lines covered, tents up again and cookers going. 
Meanwhile the dog drivers, after a long cold wait at the 
old camp, have packed the last sledge and come trotting 
along our tracks. They try to time their arrival in the 
new camp immediately after our own and generally succeed 
well. The mid-march halt runs into an hour to an hour 
and a half, and at the end we pack up and tramp forth 
again. We generally make our final camp about 8 o'clock, 
and within an hour and a half most of us are in our sleeping- 
bags. Such is at present the daily routine. At the long 
halt we do our best for our animals by building snow walls 
and improving their rugs, &c. 
Saturday, February II. — No. 10 Camp. Bearings: 
Lat. 78°47'. Bluff S. 79 W. ; Left extreme Bluff 65 0 ; 
Bluff A White Island near Sound. 11 miles. Covered 
6 and 5 miles between halts. The surface has got a 
good deal softer. In the next two marches we should 
know more certainly, but it looks as though the con- 
ditions to the south will not be so good as those we 
have had hitherto. 
Blossom, E. Evans' pony, has very small hoofs and found 
the going very bad. It is less a question of load than one 
