t 8 A.M. on December
9. The sky was overcast and there was nothing to be seen except a soft
carpet of newly fallen snow into which we sank half-way to the knees.
The sledges ran deeply and heavily so that the dogs had to be assisted.
Ahead Mertz glided along triumphant, for it was on such occasions that
skis were of the greatest assistance to him.

During the day a snow petrel circled above us for a while and then
returned to the north.

The course was due east at an elevation of two thousand three hundred
feet and the total distance we threw behind during the day was sixteen
and a half miles.

On the 10th light wind and low drift were the order of things. Our
spirits rose when the sky cleared and a slight down grade commenced.

During the morning Ninnis drew our attention to what appeared to be
small ice-capped islets fringing the coast, but the distance was too
great for us to be sure of their exact nature. Out near the verge of the
horizon a tract of frozen sea with scattered bergs could be seen.

Next day more features were distinguishable. The coast was seen to run
in a north-easterly direction as a long peninsula ending in a sharp
cape--Cape Freshfield. The north appeared to be filled with frozen sea
though we could not be certain that it was not dense pack-ice. Little
did we know that Madigan's party, about a week later, would be marching
over the frozen sea towards Cape Freshfield in the north-east.

At 10 P.M. on the 11th, at an altitude of one thousand eight hundred
feet, the highland we were traversing fell away rapidly and sea-ice
opened up directly in front of us. The coastal downfalls to the
south-east fell in rugged masses to a vertical barrier, off the seaward
face of which large, tabular bergs were grouped within environing floe.

Throughout December 12 a somewhat irregular course was made to the
south-east and south to avoid the broken area ahead. We had had enough
of crevasses and wished to be clear of serac-ice in the future.

For some days Ninnis had been enduring the throbbing pain of a whitlow
and had not been having sufficient sleep. He always did his share of the
work and had undoubtedly borne a great deal of pain without showing it.
On several nights I noticed that he sat up in his sleeping-bag for hours
puffing away at a pipe or reading. At last the pain became so acute
that he asked me to lance his finger. This was successfully accomplished
after breakfast on the 13th and during the d