owing deeper and heavier at every step.
I was ahead and went through eight times in about four miles. The
danger lay in getting the sledge and one, two, or all of us on a weak
snow-bridge at the same time. As long as the sledge did not go down we
were comparatively safe.

At 1.30 A.M. the sun was obscured and the light waned to dead white.
Still we went on, as the entrance of the gully between Aurora Peak
and Mount Murchison was near at hand and we had a mind to get over the
danger-zone before a snowstorm commenced.

By 5.30 A.M. we breathed freely on "terra firma," even though one sunk
through a foot of snow to feel it. It had taken six hours to do the last
five and three-quarter miles, and, being tired out with the strain on
muscles and nerves, we raised the tent, had a meal, and then slept till
noon on the 8th. It was eight miles to the depot, five miles up the
gully and three miles to the summit of Mount Murchison; and no one
doubted for a moment that it could not be done in a single day's march.

Advancing up the gully after lunch, we found that the surface became
softer, and we were soon sinking to the knees at every step. The
runners, too, sank till the decking rested on the snow, and it was as
much as we could do to shift the sledge, with a series of jerks at every
step. At 6 P.M. matters became desperate. We resolved to make a depot of
everything unnecessary, and to relay it up the mountain afterwards.

The sledge-meter, clogged with snow and almost submerged, was taken
off and stood up on end to mark a depot, whilst a pile was made of the
dip-circle, theodolite and tripod, pick, alpine rope, ice-axe, all the
mineral and biological specimens and excess clothing.

Even thus lightened, we could scarcely move the sledge, struggling on,
sinking to the thighs in the flocculent deluge. Snow now began to fall
so thickly that it was impossible to see ahead.

At 7 P.M. we finished up the last scraps of pemmican and cocoa. Biscuit,
sugar and glaxo had given out at the noon meal. There still remained one
and a half pounds of penguin meat, several infusions of tea and plenty
of kerosene for the primus.

We staggered on till 10.30 P.M., when the weather became so dense that
the sides of the gully were invisible. Tired out, we camped and had some
tea. In eight hours we had only made four and a half miles, and there
was still the worst part to come.

In our exhausted state we slept till 11 P.M. of January 9, awaking t