The 29th was another day of very hard pulling.  We were more than 9000 feet up—­very nearly at the “summit of the summit.”  Quoting my diary I find set down for December 30 and 31 as follows.

   “Saturday, December 30.

“Away at 8 a.m.  Had a hell of a day’s hauling.  We worked independently of the other sledge, camping for lunch at 1 p.m. about half a mile astern of them.  Then off again, and hauled till 7.15 p.m., when we reached Captain Scott’s camp, he being then stopped 3/4-hour.  The surface was frightful and they had a heavy drag.  Our distance to-day was 12 miles 1200 yards statute.  We all turned in after our welcome hoosh, too tired to write up diaries even.

   “Bill came in and had a yarn while we drank our cocoa.

   “We are now about 9200 feet above the Barrier, temperature falls to
   about -15 degrees now.  Position 86 degrees 49 minutes 9 seconds S.,
   162 degrees 50 minutes E.”

   “December 31.

“Out at 5.45, and then after a yarn with Captain Scott and our welcome pemmican, tea and biscuit.  We in our tent depoted our ski, Alpine rope, and ski shoes, saving a considerable weight.  We then started off a few minutes ahead of Captain Scott, and his team never got near us, in fact they actually lost ground.  We marched for 5 1/2 hours solid, and had a good heavy drag, but not enough to distress us.  We stopped at 1.30 p.m., having done 8 miles 116 yards statute.  After our lunch we made a depot and put two weekly units in the snow cairn, which we built and marked with a black flag.  The seamen (Evans and Crean) and Lashly spent the afternoon converting the 12 foot sledges to 10 foot with the spare runners, while the remainder of us foregathered in Captain Scott’s tent, which Evans fitted with a lining to-day, making it beautifully warm.  We sat in the tents with the door open and the sun shining in—­doing odd jobs.  I worked out sights and wrote up this diary, which was a few days adrift.  Temperature -10 degrees.

   “We are now Past Shackleton’s position for December 31, and it does
   look as if Captain Scott were bound to reach the Pole.  Position 86
   degrees 55 minutes 47 minutes S., 175 degrees 40 minutes E.

   “At 7 p.m.  Captain Scott cooked tea for all hands.

   “At 8 p.m. the first sledge was finished and the men went straight on
   with the second.  This was finished by midnight, and, having seen the
   New Year in, we had a fine pemmican hoosh and went to bed.”

New Year’s Day found us in Latitude 87 degrees 7 minutes S. Height, 9300 feet above Barrier—­a southerly wind, with temperature 14 degrees below zero.

On 2nd January I found the variation to be exactly 180 degrees.  A skua gull appeared from the south and hovered round the sledges during the afternoon, then it settled on the snow once or twice and we tried to catch it.