surface is covered with loose snow, but the slide in it seems good. We
found the mules here at the Cairn and Cross, having been able to find
their way partly by the old tracks.

I have been trying to draw the grave. Of all the fine monuments in the
world none seems to me more fitting; and it is also most impressive.

_November 17. Early morning._ I think we are all going crazy together--at
any rate things are pretty difficult. The latest scheme is to try and
find a way over the plateau to Evans Coves, trying to strike the top of a
glacier and go down it. There can be no good in it: if ever men did it,
they would arrive about the time the ship arrived there too, and their
labour would be in vain. If they got there and the ship did not arrive,
there is another party stranded. They would have to wait till February 15
or 20 to see if the ship was coming, and then there would be no
travelling back over the plateau: even if we could do it those men there
could not.

It was almost oppressively hot yesterday--but I'll never grumble about
heat again. It has now cleared a lot and we came along on the cairns
easily--but on a very soft downy surface, and the travelling has not been
fast. We bring with us the Southern Party's gear. The sledge, which was
the 10-foot which they brought on from the bottom of the glacier, has
been left.

_November 18. Early morning._ I am thankful to say that the plateau
journey idea has been given up.

Once more we have come along in thick, snowy weather. If we had not men
on ski to steer we could never keep much of a course, but Wright is
steering us very straight, keeping a check on the course by watching the
man behind, and so far we have been picking up all the cairns. This
morning we passed the pony walls made on November 10. And yet they were
nearly level with the ground; so they are not much of a mark. Yank has
just had a disagreement with Kusoi--for Kusoi objected to his trying to
get at the meat on the sledge. The mules have been sinking in a long way,
and are marching very slowly. Pyaree eats the tea-leaves after meals:
Rani and Abdullah divide a rope between them at the halts; and they have
eaten the best part of a trace since our last camp. These animals eat
anything but their proper food, and this some of them will hardly touch.

It cleared a bit for our second march, and we have done our 13 miles, but
it was very slow travelling. Now it is drifting as much as ever. Yank,
that redou