r short of luxuries such as sugar and flour, we were never in any
great want of good plain food.

On March 14 the depot party was joined by Griffith Taylor, Debenham,
Wright, and Petty Officer Evans.

Taylor's team had been landed by the "Terra Nova" on January 27, after
the start of the depot party, to make a geological reconnaissance. In the
course of their journeying they had traversed the Ferrar Glacier and then
come down a new glacier, which Scott named after Taylor, and descended
into Dry Valley, so called because it was entirely free from snow.
Taylor's way had led him and his party over a deep fresh-water lake, four
miles long, which was only surface frozen--this lake was full of algae.
The gravels below a promising region of limestones rich in garnets were
washed for gold, but only magnetite was found. When Taylor had thoroughly
explored and examined the region of the glaciers to the westward of Cape
Evans, his party retraced their footsteps and proceeded southward to
examine the Koettlitz Glacier. Scott had purposely sent Seaman Evans with
this party of geologists, reasoning with his usual thoughtfulness that
Evans's sledging experience would be invaluable to Taylor and his
companions.

Taylor and his party made wonderful maps and had a wonderful store of
names, which they bestowed upon peak, pinnacle, and pool to fix in their
memories the relative positions of the things they saw. Griffith Taylor
had a remarkable gift of description, and his Antarctic book, "The Silver
Lining," contains some fine anecdotes and narrative.

According to Taylor's chart the Koettlitz Glacier at its outflow on to
the Great Ice Barrier is at least ten miles wide. The party proceeded
along the north of the glacier for a considerable distance, sketching,
surveying, photographing, and making copious notes of the geological and
physiographical conditions in the neighbourhood, and one may say
fearlessly that no Antarctic expedition ever sailed yet with geologists
and physicists who made better use of the time at their disposal,
especially whilst doing field work.

This party hung on with their exploration work until prudence told them
that they must return from the Koettlitz Glacier before the season closed
in. Their return trip led them along the edge of the almost impenetrable
pinnacle of ice which is one of the wonders of the Antarctic. Their
journey led them also through extraordinary and difficult ice-fields that
even surprise