a remarkable spit of ice jutting out, when last surveyed, for four miles
into McMurdo Sound. Soundings showed that it was afloat for a
considerable part of its length, and as Scott found subsequently, a great
portion of it broke adrift in the autumn or winter of 1911 and was
carried by the winds and currents of the Sound to a position forty miles
W.N.W. of Cape Evans, where it grounded, a huge flat iceberg two miles in
length. Glacier Tongue was an old friend of mine, for it was here in the
1902-4 Relief Expedition that the crew of the little "Morning" dumped
twenty tons of coal for the "Discovery" to pick up on her way northward,
when the time came for her to free herself from the besetting ice which
held her prisoner off Hut Point.

The ponies were marched to their tethering place without further accident
than one falling through into the sea, but he was rescued none the worse.
Oates showed himself to advantage in managing the ponies: he was very
fond of telling us that a horse and a man would go anywhere, and I
believe if we sailor-men had had the bad taste to challenge him he would
have hoisted one of those Chinese ma[1] up to the crow's-nest!
[1: Chinese for horse.]

We all had tea on board and then, after checking the sledge loads and
ascertaining that nothing had been forgotten, the depot party started out
with full loads and marched away from Glacier Tongue for seven miles,
when our first camp was made on the sea ice. To commence with I went with
Meares and No. 1 dog-sledge; the dogs were so eager and excited that they
started by bolting at a breakneck speed and, in spite of all that we
could do, took us over the glacier edge on to the sea ice. The sledge
capsized and both Meares and I were thrown down somewhat forcibly. We
caught the sledge, however, and got the dogs in hand after their initial
energy had been expended. Scott and Wilson managed their dog sledge