“March 2, Thursday.—­Up as usual.  Strong south-west wind with heavy drift.  Took two weeks’ provisions from the depot.  I think that will last us through, as there is another depot about fifty miles north from here; I am taking the outside course on account of the crevasses, and one cannot take too many chances with two men on sledges and one crippled.  Under way about 10 o’clock; lunched noon in a heavy drift; took an hour to get the tents up, etc., the wind being so heavy.  Found sledges buried under snow after lunch, took some time to get under way.  Wind and drift very heavy; set half-sail on the first sledge and under way about 3.30.  The going is perfect; sometimes sledges overtaking us.  Carried on until 8 o’clock, doing an excellent journey for the day; distance about eleven or twelve miles.  Gives one a bit of heart to carry on like this; only hope we can do this all the way.  Had to cook our meals in the dark, but still we did not mind.  Turned in about 11 o’clock, pleased with ourselves, although we were wet through with snow, as it got through all the holes in our clothes, and the sleeping-bags are worse than awful.

“March 3, Friday.—­Up the usual time.  It has been blowing a raging blizzard all night.  Found to our disgust utterly impossible to carry on.  Another few hours of agony in these rotten bags.  Later.—­Blizzard much heavier.  Amused myself mending finneskoe and Burberrys, mitts and socks.  Had the Primus while this operation was in force.  Hoping for a fine day to-morrow.

“March 4, Saturday.—­Up 5.20.  Still blizzarding, but have decided to get under way as we will have to try and travel through everything, as Hayward is getting worse, and one doesn’t know who is the next.  No mistake it is scurvy, and the only possible cure is fresh food.  I sincerely hope the ship is in; if not we shall get over the hills by Castle Rock, which is rather difficult and will delay another couple of days.  Smith is still cheerful; he has hardly moved for weeks and he has to have everything done for him.  Got under way 9.35.  It took some two hours to dig out dogs and sledges, as they were completely buried.  It is the same every morning now.  Set sail, going along pretty fair.  Hayward gets on sledge now and again.  Lunched as usual; sledges got buried again at lunch-time.  It takes some time to camp now, and in this drift it is awful.  In the afternoon wind eased a bit and drift went down.  Found it very hard pulling with the third man on sledge, as Hayward has been on all the afternoon.  Wind veered two points to south, so we had a fair wind.  An hour before we camped Erebus and Terror showing up, a welcome sight.  Only hope wind will continue.  Drift is worst thing to contend with as it gets into our clothes, which are wet through now.  Camped 8 o’clock.  Cooked in the dark, and turned in in our wet sleeping-bags about 10 o’clock.  Distance about eight or nine miles.