On the morning of December 22, 1911, we made a late start after saying good-bye to the eight going on, and wishing them all good luck and success.  The first 11 miles was on the down-grade over the ice-falls, and at a good pace we completed this in about four hours.  Lunched, and on, completing nearly 23 miles for the first day.  At the end of the second day we got among very bad crevasses through keeping too far to the eastward.  This delayed us slightly and we made the depot on the third day.  We reached the Lower Glacier Depot three and a half days after.  The lower part of the glacier was very badly crevassed.  These crevasses we had never seen on the way up, as they had been covered with three to four feet of snow.  All the bridges of crevasses were concave and very wide; no doubt their normal summer condition.  On Christmas Day we made in to the lateral moraine of the Cloudmaker and collected geological specimens.  The march across the Barrier was only remarkable for the extremely bad lights we had.  For eight consecutive days we only saw an exceedingly dim sun during three hours.  Up to One Ton Depot our marches had averaged 14.1 geographical miles a day.  We arrived at Cape Evans on January 28, 1912, after being away for three months. [E.L.A.]

Note 24, p. 364.—­January 3.  Return of the second supporting party.

Under average conditions, the return party should have well fulfilled Scott’s cheery anticipations.  Three-man teams had done excellently on previous sledging expeditions, whether in Discovery days or as recently as the mid-winter visit to the Emperor penguins’ rookery; and the three in this party were seasoned travellers with a skilled navigator to lead them.  But a blizzard held them up for three days before reaching the head of the glacier.  They had to press on at speed.  By the time they reached the foot of the glacier, Lieut.  Evans developed symptoms of scurvy.  His spring work of surveying and sledging out to Corner Camp and the man-hauling, with Lashly, across the Barrier after the breakdown of the motors, had been successfully accomplished; this sequel to the Glacier and Summit marches was an unexpected blow.  Withal, he continued to pull, while bearing the heavy strain of guiding the course.  While the hauling power thus grew less, the leader had to make up for loss of speed by lengthening the working hours.  He put his watch on an hour.  With the ‘turning out’ signal thus advanced, the actual marching period reached 12 hours.  The situation was saved, and Evans flattered himself on his ingenuity.  But the men knew it all the time, and no word said!