that they had been anticipated by men who had borne thither the flag of
another nation.

When Scott found that we sledgers were getting temperatures as low as
minus forty he decided to discontinue sledging rather than risk anything
in the nature of severe frostbite assailing the party and rendering them
unfit for further work, for it must be remembered that we had already
been away from our base ten weeks, that many of us had never sledged
before, and that the depot journey was partly undertaken to give us
sledging experience and to point out what improvements could be made in
our clothing and equipment.

The first and second weeks in April brought the ice changes that we had
so long awaited, and after one or two false starts two teams set out from
Hut Point on April 11 to make their way across the fifteen miles of sea
ice to Cape Evans.

This turned out to be a somewhat hazardous journey, since it had to be
made in the half light with overcast weather and hard wind. Scott took
charge of one tent and had with him Bowers, Griffith Taylor, and Petty
Officer Evans, while I had in my party Wright, Debenham, Gran, and Crean.
The seven who remained at Hut Point in charge of dogs and ponies helped
us out a league or so for the first part of our journey.

The route led first up the steep ice slope over-hanging Hut Point, and
then to the summit of the ridge, which is best described as the Castle
Rock promontory. Our sojourn at Hut Point had given us plenty of chance
to learn the easier snow roads and the least dangerous, and Scott chose
the way close eastward of Castle Rock to a position four miles beyond it,
which his first expedition had named Hutton Cliffs. From Castle Rock