Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/484

As there was no food either for dogs, mules, or men in any of the depôts, the initial starting weights would have to be very large. To help as far as possible some small depôt journeys would be made in the spring. During the whole winter so far the cheerfulness of the party had been splendid under the most trying conditions, but there now seemed to be an added sprightliness with the return of light.

Nelson had been occupying his time by a very ingenious method of predicting occultations. He predicted altogether nearly fifty, but unfortunately was only able to get one or two observations. These observations were for obtaining the exact longitude. The whole Sound at this time to the north and west of Inaccessible Island was open water. We had two enormous drifts of nine to ten feet high leading from the door of the annexe down to the sea. The latter end of July the weather broke up entirely and we had a repetition of our usual blizzards for the season.