Altogether we lightened our load by about 70 lb., and we also left letters there for Lieutenant Shackleton and R. E. Priestley respectively, stating that in consequence of our late start from Cape Royds, and also on account of the slowness of our progress thence to Butter Point, we could not return to the Point until January 12 at the earliest, instead of the first week in January, as had been anticipated. Months later we heard that this little depot survived the blizzards, and that Armytage, Priestley and Brocklehurst had read our letters.
A few days later we landed at Cape Bernacchi, and on October 17 we hoisted the Union Jack and took possession of Victoria Land for the British Empire. The geology of Cape Bernacchi is extremely interesting, the dominant type of rock being a pure white coarsely crystalline marble, which has been broken through by granite rocks, the latter in places containing small red garnets.
On the next day we reached a headland where the rocks resembled those at Cape Bernacchi, and Mawson considered that some of the quartz veins traversing this headland would prove to be gold-bearing.
That same night I was attacked by snow-blindness through neglecting to wear my snow-goggles regularly, and as I was no better when the time came for us to march, I asked Mawson to take my place at the end of the long rope, the foremost position in the team. So remarkably proficient was he on this occasion, and afterwards, at picking out the best track for our sledges and in steering a good course, that at my request he occupied this position throughout the rest of the journey.
Uneventful days followed, but by the 23rd it was quite clear that at our rate of travelling—about four statute miles daily by the relay method—we could not get to the Pole and back to Butter Point early in January, so we held a serious council as to the future of our journey towards the Magnetic Pole, and I suggested that the most likely means to get there and back in the time specified by Lieutenant Shackleton would be to travel on half-rations, depoting the remainder of our provision at an early opportunity.
Loaded Sledge showing the Distance Recorder or Sledge-meter
After some discussion, Mawson and Mackay agreed to try this expedient, and we decided to think over the matter for a few days and then make our depot-.
In pursuing our north-westerly course we presently passed a magnificent bay, which trended westwards some five or six miles away from the course we were steering. On either side of this bay were majestic ranges of rocky mountains, parted from one another at the head of the bay by an immense glacier with steep ice falls.
On either side of this glacier were high terraces of rock reaching back for several miles from a modern valley edge to the foot of still higher ranges. It was obvious that these terraces marked the position of the floor of the old valley at a time when the glacier ice was several thousand feet higher and some ten miles wider than it was when we saw it.