d on the windward side in which Webb took a full set of magnetic
observations. Within the "Grotto" the instrument rapidly became coated
with ice-crystals; in the open air this difficulty did not arise, but
others had to be overcome. It was exceedingly cold work at -20 degrees
F. in a sixty-mile wind, both for Webb and his recorder Stillwell.

There seemed no hope of going forward, so the depot flag was hoisted
and a fortnight's provisions and kerosene stowed in the lee of the
break-wind. It was a furious race back to the Hut via Aladdin's Cave
with a gusty, seventy-five-mile wind in the rear. McLean and Stillwell
actually skied along on their short blunt crampons, while Webb did his
best to brake behind.

The second party comprised Ninnis, Mertz, and Murphy, who went to the
south-east, leaving on September 11. After a hard fight to Aladdin's
Cave, the wind approaching fifty miles an hour, they diverged to the
south-east. On the 12th they made steady progress up the slope of the
glacier, delayed by many small crevasses. The surface was so rough that
the nuts on the sledge-meter soon became loose and it was necessary to
stop every quarter of a mile to adjust them. The day's march was a solid
five and three quarter miles against a fifty-mile wind.

On the 13th Ninnis's record proceeds as follows:

"The sky was still clear but the wind had increased to sixty-five miles
per hour, the temperature standing at -17 degrees F.

"We kept on the same course; the glacier's slope being steeper.
Mertz was as usual wearing leather boots and mountaineering crampons,
otherwise progress would have been practically impossible; the finnesko
crampons worn by Murphy and myself giving very little foothold.
Travelling was very slow indeed, and when we camped at 4 P.M., two and a
half miles was all that had been covered.

"At 9.15 A.M. (September 14) the wind practically dropped, and we
advanced under perfect conditions."

They had not gone far, however, before the wind suddenly increased so
that only about four and a half miles were completed in the day. That
evening, curiously enough, it fell calm for a time; then there was a
period of alternating violent winds and calm.

On Sunday, September 15, it was impossible for them to move, as a
hurricane raged outside. The tent was very much damaged by the wind, but
in that state it managed to stand up till next morning. In the
meantime all three fully dressed themselves and lay in their three