t remedied. A careful examination showed no
sufficient cause, so it was assumed to be internal. To undertake
anything big was out of the question, so we dropped thirty-two gallons
of benzene and a spare propeller. Another mile went by and we came to
snow, where forty gallons of benzene, twelve gallons of oil and a sledge
were abandoned. The speed was now six miles an hour and we did two miles
in very bad form. As it was now 11 P.M. and the wind was beginning to
rise, we camped, feeling none too pleased with the first day's results.

While in the sleeping-bag I tried to think out some rapid way of
discovering what was wrong with the engine. The only conclusion to which
I could come was that it would be best to proceed to the cave at eleven
and three-quarter miles--Cathedral Grotto--and there remove the faulty
cylinder, if the weather seemed likely to be favourable; if it did not,
to go on independently with our man-hauled sledge.

On December 4 the wind was still blowing about twenty miles per hour
when we set to work on the machine. I poured some oil straight into the
crank-case to make sure that there was sufficient, and we also tested
and improved the ignition. At four o'clock the wind dropped, and in an
hour the engine was started. While moving along, the idle cylinder
was ejecting oil, and this, together with the fact that it had no
compression, made me hope that broken piston-rings were the source of
the trouble. It would only take two hours to remove three cylinders,
take one ring from each of the two sound ones for the faulty one, and
all might yet be well!

These thoughts were brought to a sudden close by the engine, without any
warning, pulling up with such a jerk that the propeller was smashed.
On moving the latter, something fell into the oil in the crank-case and
fizzled, while the propeller could only be swung through an angle of
about 30 deg.. We did not wait to examine any further, but fixed up the
man-hauling sledge, which had so far been carried by the air-tractor
sledge, and cached all except absolute necessities.

We were sorry to leave the machine, though we had never dared to expect
a great deal from it in the face of the unsuitable conditions found
to prevail in Adelie Land. However, the present situation was
disappointing.

Having stuffed up the exhaust-pipes to keep out the drift, we turned our
backs to the aero-sledge and made for the eleven-and-three-quarter-mile
cave, arriving there at 8