South!

ing the two boats, the James Caird and the Dudley Docker, over the dangerously cracked portion to the first of the young floes, whilst the su

ion, and by dint of much careful manipulation and tortuous course

al was caught which provided fresh food for ourselves and for the dogs. On arrival at the camp a supper of cold tinned mutton and tea was served, and everybody tur

ng. So that afternoon Wild and I ski-ed out to the crack and found that it had closed up again. We marked out the track with small flags as we returned. Each day, after all hands had turned in, Wild and I would go ahead for two miles or so to reconnoitre the next day's route, marking it with pieces of wood, tins, and small flags. We had to pick the road which though it might be somewhat devious, was flattest and had least hummocks. Pressure-ridges had to be skirted, and where this was not possible the best place to make a bridge of ice-blocks across the lead or over the ridge had to be found and marked. It was the duty of the dog-drivers to thus prepare the track for those who were toiling behind with the heavy boats. These boats

s served. By 2 a.m. we were on the march again. We wished one another a merry Christmas, and our thoughts went back to those at home.

hard, rough, jolly life, this marching and camping; no washing of self or dishes, no undressing, no changing of clothes. We have our food anyhow, and alw

per layers of snow very soft, and the thin crust which formed at night was not sufficient to support a man. Consequently, at each step we went in over our knees in the soft wet snow. Sometime

rather an exciting time on some very loose, rotten ice, three killer-whales in a

s the principal thing that matters. The route, however, lay over very hummocky floes, and required much work with pick and shovel to

rt march. While we waited, a meal of tea and two small bannocks was served, bu

nd those who were sleeping outside

nstrels with the blubber-soot, were dubbed "Potash and Perlmutter." Next come the dog teams, who soon overtake the cook, and the two boats bring up the rear. Were it not for these cumbrous boats we should get along

ore we halted for "lunch" at 1 a.m., and then on for anoth

d neither pull nor keep up with the party even

t was required. The surface, too, was now very soft, so our progress was slow and tiring. We managed to get another three-quarters of a mile before lunch, and a further mile due west over a very h

. Great open leads intersected the floes at all angles, and it all looked very unpromi

tense disappointment of all, instead of forging ahead, we had to retire half a mile so as to get on a stronger floe, and by

; rations were short and the men were weak. They were worn out with the hard pulling over soft surfaces, and our stock of sledging food was very small. We had marched seven and a half miles in a direct line and at this rate it would take us over three hundred days to reach the land away to the west. As we only had food for forty-two days there was no alternative,

cupy for nearly three and a half