8th valuable geological specimens were collected and brought along, and then the descent of the Great Glacier commenced.  The Beardmore temperatures to begin with were rather high, and Scott seems to have considered this a disadvantage, for he says it made the party feel slack.  Evans was rested half-way down the Beardmore, Oates looking after him, while the other made a halt for geological investigation by the Cloudmaker depot.

But poor Evans had sustained a severe concussion through falling and hitting his head on the 4th, and the party on his account was so delayed that the surplus foodstuffs rapidly diminished, and the outlook became serious.  Bad weather was again encountered, and on February 17, near the foot of the Glacier, Seaman Evans died.  Wilson expressed the opinion that Evans must have injured his brain by the fall.  It was a great surprise to all of us to hear of Evans failing so early, as he was known to be a man of enormous strength, and a tried sledger.  He was also a veteran in Antarctic experience, having made some wonderful journeys under Scott in the “Discovery” days.

After reaching the Lower Glacier Depot on the 17th the bereaved little band pushed Northward with fine perseverance, although they must have known by their gradually shortening marches that little hope of reaching their winter quarters remained.  Their best march on the Barrier was only 12 miles, and in the later stages their marches dropped to 4.  The depots were, as stated, some 65 miles apart, but the temperatures fell as they advanced, instead of rising, as expected, and we find them recording -46.2 degrees one night.  Surfaces were terrible—­“like pulling over desert sand, not the least glide in the world.”

Poor Oates’s feet and hands were badly frostbitten—­he constantly appealed to Wilson for advice.  What should he do, what could he do?  Poor, gallant soldier, we thought such worlds of him.  Wilson could only answer “slog on, just slog on.”  On March 17, which was Oates’s birthday, he walked out to his death in a noble endeavour to save his three companions beset with hardships, and as Captain Scott himself wrote, “It was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman—­we all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.”

Scott, Wilson, and Bowers fought on until March 21, only doing about 20 miles in the four days, and then they were forced to camp 11 miles south of One Ton Depot.  They were kept in camp by a blizzard which was too violent to permit them to move, and on March 25 Captain Scott wrote his great message to the public: 

MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC

The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organisation, but to misfortune in all risks which had to be undertaken.

1.—­The loss of pony transport in March, 1911, obliged me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits of stuff transported to be narrowed.

2.  The weather throughout the outward journey, and especially the long gale in 83 degrees S., stopped us.