Bar. 21.41.  Camp 46.  Rise for day ?about 250 ft. or 300 ft.  Hypsometer, 8000 ft.

The first two hours of the afternoon march went very well.  Then the sledges hung a bit, and we plodded on and covered something over 14 miles (geo.) in the day.  We lost sight of the big pressure ridge, but to-night another smaller one shows fine on the ‘port bow,’ and the surface is alternately very hard and fairly soft; dips and rises all round.  It is evident we are skirting more disturbances, and I sincerely hope it will not mean altering course more to the west. 14 miles in 4 hours is not so bad considering the circumstances.  The southerly wind is continuous and not at all pleasant in camp, but on the march it keeps us cool. (T. -3 deg..) The only inconvenience is the extent to which our faces get iced up.  The temperature hovers about zero.

We have not struck a crevasse all day, which is a good sign.  The sun continues to shine in a cloudless sky, the wind rises and falls, and about us is a scene of the wildest desolation, but we are a very cheerful party and to-morrow is Christmas Day, with something extra in the hoosh.

Monday, December 25.  CHRISTMAS.—­Lunch.  Bar. 21.14.  Rise 240 feet.  The wind was strong last night and this morning; a light snowfall in the night; a good deal of drift, subsiding when we started, but still about a foot high.  I thought it might have spoilt the surface, but for the first hour and a half we went along in fine style.  Then we started up a rise, and to our annoyance found ourselves amongst crevasses once more—­very hard, smooth neve between high ridges at the edge of crevasses, and therefore very difficult to get foothold to pull the sledges.  Got our ski sticks out, which improved matters, but we had to tack a good deal and several of us went half down.  After half an hour of this I looked round and found the second sledge halted some way in rear—­evidently someone had gone into a crevasse.  We saw the rescue work going on, but had to wait half an hour for the party to come up, and got mighty cold.  It appears that Lashly went down very suddenly, nearly dragging the crew with him.  The sledge ran on and jammed the span so that the Alpine rope had to be got out and used to pull Lashly to the surface again.  Lashly says the crevasse was 50 feet deep and 8 feet across, in form U, showing that the word ‘unfathomable’ can rarely be applied.  Lashly is 44 to-day and as hard as nails.  His fall has not even disturbed his equanimity.

After topping the crevasse ridge we got on a better surface and came along fairly well, completing over 7 miles (geo.) just before 1 o’clock.  We have risen nearly 250 feet this morning; the wind was strong and therefore trying, mainly because it held the sledge; it is a little lighter now.