ne, called the Last Depot, we picked up four days' food,
a can of oil, some methylated spirit (for lighting purposes) and some
personal gear we had left there. The bamboo was bent on to the
floor-cloth as a yard for our sail instead of a broken sledge-runner of
Amundsen's which we had found at the Pole and made a temporary yard of.

"As we had marched extra long in the forenoon in order to reach the
depot, our afternoon march was shorter than usual. The wind increased to
a moderate gale with heavy gusts and considerable drift. We should have
had a bad time had we been facing it. After an hour I had to shift my
harness aft so as to control the motions of the sledge. Unfortunately the
surface got very sandy latterly, but we finished up with 16.1 miles to
our credit and camped in a stiff breeze, which resolved itself into a
blizzard a few hours later. I was glad we had our depot safe."

"_January 21._ Wind increased to force 8 during night with heavy drift.
In the morning it was blizzing like blazes and marching was out of the
question. The wind would have been of great assistance to us, but the
drift was so thick that steering a course would have been next to
impossible. We decided to await developments and get under weigh as soon
as it showed any signs of clearing. Fortunately it was shortlived, and
instead of lasting the regulation two days it eased up in the afternoon,
and 3.45 found us off with our sail full. It was good running on ski but
soft plodding for me on foot. I shall be jolly glad to pick up my dear
old ski. They are nearly 200 miles away yet, however. The breeze fell
altogether latterly and I shifted up into my old place as middle number
of the five. Our distance completed was 5.5 miles, when camp was made
again. Our old cairns are of great assistance to us, also the tracks,
which are obliterated in places by heavy drift and hard sastrugi, but can
be followed easily."

"_January 22._ We came across Evans' sheepskin boots this morning. They
were almost covered up after their long spell since they fell off the
sledge [on January 11]. The breeze was fair from the S.S.W. but got
lighter and lighter. At lunch camp we had completed 8.2 miles. In the
afternoon the breeze fell altogether, and the surface, acted on by the
sun, became perfect sawdust. The light sledge pulled by five men came
along like a drag without a particle of slide or give. We were all glad
to camp soon after 7 P.M. I think we were all pretty t