Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/306

books. The Red Magazine, the 'Autocrat,' and Browning were most often read; Evans' contribution being an easy winner. Somehow we didn't hanker after German.

On the 10th we descended 1200 feet down a series of undulations and reached our depôt at Cathedral Rocks. The skua gulls had found the carcase of the Emperor and our chance of a variation in the menu had departed with the gulls.

On the 11th Wright and Debenham carried out a very important operation to determine the movement of the Ferrar Glacier. They fixed stakes right across the glacier which were aligned on two prominent peaks. Some six months later Captain Scott re-measured this line and found that very considerable movement, amounting to 30 feet, had taken place during the winter.

Meanwhile P.O. Evans and I prospected for a route up the steep snow slope of Descent Pass. Evans had been with Armitage when he used this route in 1903. We found the conditions very different. Soon we were sinking nearly two feet at every step in soft snow, through which I knew it would be almost impossible to drag the sledges. The slope soon increased to 11°, so that we found some difficulty in progressing even unencumbered. There I first made the acquaintance of the 'Barrier Shudder.' Every now and then a shiver would shake the surface and we could hear the eerie wave of sound expanding like a ripple all around. Sometimes one could see the whole snow surface sinking slightly, and at first the effect was very unpleasant.

We had been roped for two miles and were still