Tuesday, December 19.—­Lunch, rise 650.  Dist. 8 1/2 geo.  Camp 41.  Things are looking up.  Started on good surface, soon came to very annoying criss-cross cracks.  I fell into two and have bad bruises on knee and thigh, but we got along all the time until we reached an admirable smooth ice surface excellent for travelling.  The last mile, neve predominating and therefore the pulling a trifle harder, we have risen into the upper basin of the glacier.  Seemingly close about us are the various land masses which adjoin the summit:  it looks as though we might have difficulties in the last narrows.  We are having a long lunch hour for angles, photographs, and sketches.  The slight south-westerly wind came down the glacier as we started, and the sky, which was overcast, has rapidly cleared in consequence.

Night.  Height about 5800.  Camp 41.  We stepped off this afternoon at the rate of 2 miles or more an hour, with the very satisfactory result of 17 (stat.) miles to the good for the day.  It has not been a strain, except perhaps for me with my wounds received early in the day.  The wind has kept us cool on the march, which has in consequence been very much pleasanter; we are not wet in our clothes to-night, and have not suffered from the same overpowering thirst as on previous days. (T. -11 deg..) (Min. -5 deg..) Evans and Bowers are busy taking angles; as they have been all day, we shall have material for an excellent chart.  Days like this put heart in one.

Wednesday, December 20.—­Camp 42. 6500 feet about.  Just got off our last best half march—­10 miles 1150 yards (geo.), over 12 miles stat.  With an afternoon to follow we should do well to-day; the wind has been coming up the valley.  Turning this book [35] seems to have brought luck.  We marched on till nearly 7 o’clock after a long lunch halt, and covered 19 1/2 geo. miles, nearly 23 (stat.), rising 800 feet.  This morning we came over a considerable extent of hard snow, then got to hard ice with patches of snow; a state of affairs which has continued all day.  Pulling the sledges in crampons is no difficulty at all.  At lunch Wilson and Bowers walked back 2 miles or so to try and find Bowers’ broken sledgemeter, without result.  During their absence a fog spread about us, carried up the valleys by easterly wind.  We started the afternoon march in this fog very unpleasantly, but later it gradually lifted, and to-night it is very fine and warm.  As the fog lifted we saw a huge line of pressure ahead; I steered for a place where the slope looked smoother, and we are camped beneath the spot to-night.  We must be ahead of Shackleton’s position on the 17th.  All day we have been admiring a wonderful banded structure of the rock; to-night it is beautifully clear on Mount Darwin.

I have just told off the people to return to-morrow night:  Atkinson, Wright, Cherry-Garrard, and Keohane.  All are disappointed—­poor Wright rather bitterly, I fear.  I dread this necessity of choosing—­nothing could be more heartrending.  I calculated our programme to start from 85 deg. 10’ with 12 units of food [36] and eight men.  We ought to be in this position to-morrow night, less one day’s food.  After all our harassing trouble one cannot but be satisfied with such a prospect.