Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/185

Our stores were six weeks' sledging rations, one 12-ft. sledge (Priestley, Dickason, and myself), and one 10-ft. sledge (Levick, Abbott, and Browning). In addition to this I landed a depôt consisting of seven boxes of biscuits, one box of cocoa (24 tins), one box of chocolate (36 lbs.), one box of sugar (56 lbs.), 4 weekly bags of pemmican (14 lbs. each), 2 weekly bags of raisins, 2 cheeses, 1 bag of onions, 14 tins of oil, a little spare clothing, a spare sleeping-bag, and a spare tent and poles. Also my small primus stove, and two spare sledges, one of which was fitted with iron runners. By midnight we were camped, and saw the last of the ship steaming out of the bay.

January 9.—Turned out at 6 a.m., but we did not get away until 10.30, shaping course N.W. for some foothills between us and Mt. Melbourne. Hard rough ice and a strong S.W. breeze made our sledges skid and did the runners no good. Crossed many thaw pools and channels covered with thin ice, through which we broke. After about an hour's pulling, however, we got on to a snow surface, which was better going. We camped early to try and repair the sledgemeter. Got a good round of angles after hoosh. Night calm but overcast. Lengthened the traces as we may expect crevasses.

January 10.—Overslept ourselves, not turning out until 7. It was 9 o'clock before we were under way. Our course lay over the piedmont ice, close under the northern foothills which lay between us and Mt. Melbourne. Some way ahead it looked as if a glacier from Mt. Melbourne came out on the piedmont, thereby giving