ion] LESS SNOW AND BETTER GOING 503 
afternoon wc did still better, and camped at 6.30 with a 
very marked change in the land bearings. We must have 
come ii or 12 miles (stat.). Wc got fearfully hot on the 
march, sweated through everything and stripped off jerseys. 
The result is we arc pretty cold and clammy now, but 
escape from the soft snow and a good march compensate 
every discomfort. At lunch the blue ice was about 2 feet 
beneath us, now it is barely a foot, so that I suppose we 
shall soon find it uncovered. To-night the sky is overcast 
and wind has been blowing up the glacier. I think there 
will be another spell of gloomy weather on the Barrier, and 
the question is whether this part of the glacier escapes. 
There arc crevasses about, one about eighteen inches 
across outside Bowers' tent, and a narrower one outside 
our own. I think the soft snow trouble is at an end, 
and I could wish nothing better than a continuance of the 
present surface. Towards the end of the march we were 
pulling our loads with the greatest ease. It is splendid 
to be getting along and to find some adequate return for 
the work we are putting into the business. 
Friday, December 15 —Camp 37. (Height about 2500. 
Lat. about 84 0 8'.) Got away at 8 ; marched till 1 ; the 
surface improving and snow covering thinner over the 
blue ice, but the sky overcast and glooming, the clouds ever 
coming lower, and Evans' is now decidedly the slowest 
unit, though Bowers' is not much faster. Wc keep up and 
overhaul either without difficulty. It was an enormous 
relief yesterday to get steady going without involuntary 
stops, but yesterday and this morning, once the sledge 
was stopped, it was very difficult to start again — the 
