The going was very heavy throughout the march, and getting worse, the snow deeper than ever.
There had been no strong wind in this region since we left the ship at least, for the recent falls of snow lay just as they fell.
The surface of the glacial fringe during this march was intersected with narrow water cracks which seemed to delimit the larger swells, and I observed some hummocks and true crevasses.
Between us and the distant cape which was our objective point another long flat glacier snout could be seen pushing far out.
Two smaller glaciers abreast of our camp showed all the true glacier characteristics of seracs, crevasses, and vertical faces.
I quote from my Journal:
June 18th.—Fifteen paced miles in eight hours and forty-five minutes, including fifty minutes stops for angles. My own speed of three miles per hour (one-half mile in ten minutes), then a five minute wait for the dogs, just made things even.
My brain is numb with the incessant ‘one, two, three’ of counting my paces all day long.
The travelling continuously very heavy. I have paced the entire fifteen miles, and the men (on snowshoes as usual) have walked beside their sledges.
Without snowshoes we should not have made over half the distance, perhaps not more than five miles.