H 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
more important, five or six tons of petrol 
stacked on a piece of ice now split off. Such 
singular intelligence, combined with the 
strength to break ice two and a half feet in 
thickness, thereafter commanded a wary 
respect. 
Laying the Depots of Provisions. 
No sooner was all ashore than preparations 
began for the first depot-laving, to start if 
possible at the end of the month, as soon as 
the ponies were in proper condition. Here, 
as always, Scott found his transport officer, 
Bowers, invaluable, working out the figures 
of every detail and putting the results into 
practice. “ lie is a perfect treasure, and 
enters into one’s ideas at once, and evidently 
thoroughly understands the principles of the 
game.” Had he only been surrounded by a 
few men of courage, enthusiasm, and practical 
capacity, it would have been much ; but the 
perfection of working struck him as almost 
too good to be real, and, to give but one 
sentence of praise among many, “ Indeed, it 
is hard to specialize praise where everyone is 
working so indefatigably for the cause. Each 
man in his way is a treasure.” 
Nearly three months of the autumn 
(January 24th to April 13th) were spent in 
the depot-laying to the south, and at the same 
time a party, under Griffith Taylor, whom 
“ Wilson, dear chap,” had been carefully 
coaching, explored and geologized and gained 
experience among the Western Mountains. 
For the Southern party, the first objective 
was Hut Point, on Cape Armitage, at the 
opposite end of the island. The approach was 
by the “ road ” of fast ice along the shore, 
which must be expected to break up in a few 
days for the rest of the summer. A few 
miles south of the station a glacier descended 
from Mount Erebus, thrusting a massive 
tongue into the open water of the Sound. The 
track went of necessity over this tongue, and 
the way up and down was too steep for laden 
ponies. Accordingly, while the rest of the 
party and the stores and sledges were conveyed 
beyond the tongue by the ship, the ponies 
were led afoot, crossed the glacier, and reached 
the farther floe w ith a single mishap, one pony 
slipping into a snow-covered crack and having 
to be hauled out with ropes. 
Safety Camp. 
Once assembled on the farther floe the party 
set off in lively style. The task before the 
1w r elve men, eight ponies, and twenty-six 
dogs w^as first to transport the eight tons of 
stores from the ship to a secure point on the 
permanent ice of the Barrier, afterwards 
called Safety Camp, about six miles east- 
south-east of Hut Point, fourteen from the 
ship, and twenty-one from the station, before 
the ice should break up. Then, with Safety 
Camp as home base, a further depot could he 
laid to the south. “Safety” was the third 
camp from the ship, and the teams made a 
threefold journey between camp and camp to 
convey all the stores. The dogs gave rise to 
various excitements, as when, at the outset, 
they started on hard ice with a light load ; 
nothing could hold them, and they dashed off 
over everything, to the imminent peril of their 
drivers ; or when, as Scott w r as returning to the 
ship, they caught sight of a whale breaching 
in the thirty-foot stretch of open water 
across their path, and promptly made for it. 
It was all we could do to stop them before w r e 
reached the water.” 
The Ponies. 
The ponies gave promise of being “ real 
good.” “ They work with extraordinary 
steadiness, stepping out briskly and cheer- 
fully, and following in each other’s tracks. 
The great drawback is the case with which 
they sink in soft snow.” Indeed, when con- 
ditions suddenly became very bad it seemed 
best to spare the ponies ; to bring up as much 
of the last load as the dogs could draw r and 
leave the rest of the fodder where it stood, on 
the Barrier, but one and a half miles short of 
Safety ^ Camp. A remedy was afterwards 
found in a sort of snowshoe. However, they 
were by no means tame or dull. One spirited, 
nervous fellow, at a morning start, got away 
when his head was left for a moment and 
charged through the camp at a gallop, finally 
cannoning with another sledge and breaking 
free. Another, led by the young ski-ing 
expert of the party, went w r ell w r hile he was 
alongside, but wdien he came up from the 
back the beast was frightened by the swish 
of the ski and fled, load and all, faster than 
the trained ski-runner in pursuit. 
By January 31st fourteen weeks’ stores for 
man and beast (dating from the 25th) had 
been brought up. Scott’s plan, which he 
now T unfolded, was to go forward with five 
weeks’ supplies, depot a fortnight’s supply 
after travelling tw r elve or thirteen days, and 
return to Safety Camp. This would give 
light loads all round, and should be feasible 
if the surface w r ere good. 
That afternoon all was ready for the start, 
