524 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [Dfxember 
Obs.: 86° 27' 2" S.; 161 0 E. ; 179 0 33' E. Bar. 
20*64. 
Friday, December 29. — Bar. 20*52. Lunch. Height 
9050 about. The worst surface we have struck, very 
heavy pulling ; but we came 6\ miles (gco.). It will be 
a strain to keep up distances if we get surfaces like this. 
We seem to be steadily but slowly rising. The satisfactory 
tiling is that the second party now keeps up, as the faults 
have been discovered ; they were due partly to the rigid 
loading of the sledge and partly to the bad pacing. 
Night camp 51. Bar. 20"49- T. -6°. Had another 
struggle this afternoon and only managed to get 12 miles 
(gco.). The very hard pulling has occurred on two rises. 
It appears that the loose snow is blown over the rises and 
rests in heaps on the north-facing slopes. It is these 
heaps that cause our worst troubles. The weather looks 
a little doubtful, a good deal of cirrus cloud in motion 
over us, radiating E. and W. The wind shifts from S.E. 
to S.S.W., rising and falling at intervals ; it is annoying 
to the march as it retards the sledges, but it must help 
the surface, I think, and so hope for better things to- 
morrow. The marches arc terribly monotonous. One's 
thoughts wander occasionally to pleasantcr scenes and 
places, but the necessity to keep the course, or some hitch 
in the surface, quickly brings them back. There have 
been some hours of very steady plodding to-day ; these 
arc the best part of the business, they mean forget ful- 
ncss and advance. 
Saturday, December 30.— Bar. 20-42. Lunch. Night 
camp 52. Bar. 20*36. Rise about 150. A very trying, 
