cott's unit complete, just as it had pulled up the glacier. The
second team consisted, I believe, of the men whom Scott considered to be
the strongest; two from Evans' team, and two from Bowers'. All Scott's
team were fresh to the extent that they had done no man-hauling until we
started up the glacier. But two of the other team, Lieutenant Evans and
Lashly, had been man-hauling since the breakdown of the second motor on
November 1. They had man-hauled four hundred statute miles farther than
the rest. Indeed Lashly's man-hauling journey from Corner Camp to beyond
87 deg. 32' S., and back, is one of the great feats of polar travelling.

Surely and not very slowly, Scott's team began to wear down the other
team. They were going easily when the others were making heavy weather
and were sometimes far behind. During the fortnight they rose, according
to the corrected observations, from 7151 feet (Upper Glacier Depot) to
9392 feet above sea level (Three Degree Depot). The rarefied air of the
Plateau with its cold winds and lower temperatures, just now about -10 deg.
to -12 deg. at night and -3 deg. during the day, were having their effect on the
second team, as well as the forced marches. This is quite clear from
Scott's diary, and from the other diaries also. What did not appear until
after the Last Returning Party had turned homewards was that the first
team was getting worn out too. This team which had gone so strong up the
glacier, which had done those amazingly good marches on the plateau,
broke up unexpectedly and in some respects rapidly from the 88th parallel
onwards.

Seaman Evans was the first man to crack. He was the heaviest, largest,
most muscular man we had, and that was probably one of the main reasons:
for his allowance of food was the same as the others. But one mishap
which contributed to his collapse seems to have happened during this
first fortnight on the plateau. On December 31 the 12-feet sledges were
turned into 10-feet ones by stripping off the old scratched runners which
had come up the glacier and shipping new 10-feet ones which had been
brought for the purpose. This job was done by the seamen, and Evans
appears to have had some accident to his hand, which is mentioned several
times afterwards.

Meanwhile Scott had to decide whom he was going to take on with him to
the Pole,--for it was becoming clear that in all probability he _would_
reach the Pole: "What castles one builds now hopefully that the