resh meat went with them. The
line was always ready after this.

Towards evening the wind dropped suddenly to twenty miles per hour.
Our camp was stationed on the southern side of the large valley we had
entered on the 18th, and we could identify the ridge crossed on that
date, blue and dim, forty miles away to the north. To the north-east
could be seen a distinct dip in the skyline, indicating the bed of the
valley, on whose northern side the dip met the higher skyline in a
steep bluff, twenty-five miles off. This bluff under the glasses was of
heavily crevassed, blue ice.

The wind did not rise again much until 10 P.M., when we had moved on
seven and a half miles, rising about three hundred feet over several
ridges and practically losing our view to the north.

A steady breeze on the 26th, and, on the whole, good light, allowed us
to make twelve miles.

Each day, now, Webb took an approximate magnetic dip and declination in
the lee of the break-wind. This was necessary in order to get some
idea of local disturbances. Also, it gave us some vague idea as to the
direction in which lay the South Magnetic Pole. For instance, at the
eighty-three-and-three-quarter-mile camp, the needle showed the Pole to
be 18 degrees east of true south, while at our lunch camp that day, six
miles farther on, it was given as 50 degrees east of south. The dip was
so great that our prismatic compass would not set closer than about 15
degrees, but the long compass needle of the dip-circle, though of course
sluggish, continued to give excellent results.

Under these conditions it is obvious that the magnetic needle is quite
useless for steering purposes. The sun compass proved itself a more than
efficient substitute. On a snowfield there is usually a total absence of
landmarks of any kind, so the direction of wind, sastrugi, or perhaps
a low cloud is found with the sun-compass, frequently checked, and the
course kept accordingly. On camping we would generally carefully note
the direction in which the sledge was left, in case the next day proved
overcast. Thus we would march in the morning by the wind's direction
till the sun, gleaming through the clouds for a few moments, enabled us
to use the compass again.

Sastrugi, only six inches high, seen on the 26th, showed the effects of
wind-erosion exquisitely. In an individual case the windward end of a
sastruga might be completely undercut for six or nine inches, leaving
a hard crust, sometim