310 PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING. 
for commencing the undertaking ; there remained 
but to bury our surplus stores, and for this the hole 
was already dug. On the afternoon of the *24th 
I intended finally to evacuate the depot, and on the 
evening of the 23rd, to amuse my natives, I had all 
the rockets and blue-lights we had, fired off, since 
we could not take them with us, our pack-horses 
being barely able to carry for us the mere necessaries 
of life. 
