Our sleeping-bags are slowly but surely getting wetter and I’m afraid it will take a lot of this weather to put them right.  However, we all sleep well enough in them, the hours allowed being now on the short side.  We are slowly getting more hungry, and it would be an advantage to have a little more food, especially for lunch.  If we get to the next depot in a few marches (it is now less than 60 miles and we have a full week’s food) we ought to be able to open out a little, but we can’t look for a real feed till we get to the pony food depot.  A long way to go, and, by Jove, this is tremendous labour.

Sunday, January 28.—­Lunch, -20 deg..  Height, night, 10,130.  R. 11.  Supper Temp. -18 deg..  Little wind and heavy going in forenoon.  We just ran out 8 miles in 5 hours and added another 8 in 3 hours 40 mins. in the afternoon with a good wind and better surface.  It is very difficult to say if we are going up or down hill; the barometer is quite different from outward readings.  We are 43 miles from the depot, with six days’ food in hand.  We are camped opposite our lunch cairn of the 4th, only half a day’s march from the point at which the last supporting party left us.

Three articles were dropped on our outward march—­(Oates’ pipe, Bowers’ fur mits, and Evans’ night boots.  We picked up the boots and mits on the track, and to-night we found the pipe lying placidly in sight on the snow.  The sledge tracks were very easy to follow to-day; they are becoming more and more raised, giving a good line shadow often visible half a mile ahead.  If this goes on and the weather holds we shall get our depot without trouble.  I shall indeed be glad to get it on the sledge.  We are getting more hungry, there is no doubt.  The lunch meal is beginning to seem inadequate.  We are pretty thin, especially Evans, but none of us are feeling worked out.  I doubt if we could drag heavy loads, but we can keep going well with our light one.  We talk of food a good deal more, and shall be glad to open out on it.

Monday, January 29.—­R. 12.  Lunch Temp. -23 deg..  Supper Temp. -25 deg..  Height 10,000.  Excellent march of 19 1/2 miles, 10.5 before lunch.  Wind helping greatly, considerable drift; tracks for the most part very plain.  Some time before lunch we picked up the return track of the supporting party, so that there are now three distinct sledge impressions.  We are only 24 miles from our depot—­an easy day and a half.  Given a fine day to-morrow we ought to get it without difficulty.  The wind and sastrugi are S.S.E. and S.E.  If the weather holds we ought to do the rest of the inland ice journey in little over a week.  The surface is very much altered since we passed out.  The loose snow has been swept into heaps, hard and wind-tossed.  The rest has a glazed appearance, the loose drifting snow no doubt acting on it, polishing it like a sand blast.  The sledge with our good wind behind runs splendidly on it; it is all soft and sandy beneath the glaze.  We are certainly getting hungrier every day.  The day after to-morrow we should be able to increase allowances.  It is monotonous work, but, thank God, the miles are coming fast at last.  We ought not to be delayed much now with the down-grade in front of us.