some time to fix up the many small fittings that different people require.
I have been making arrangements for the depôt journey, telling off people for ponies and dogs, &c.9
To-morrow is to be our first rest day, but next week everything will be tending towards sledging preparations. I have also been discussing and writing about the provisions of animals to be brought down in the Terra Nova next year.
The wind is very persistent from the S.S.E., rising and falling; to-night it has sprung up again, and is rattling the canvas of the tent.
Some of the ponies are not turning out so well as I expected; they are slow walkers and must inevitably impede the faster ones. Two of the best had been told off for Campbell by Oates, but I must alter the arrangement. ‘Then I am not quite sure they are going to stand the cold well, and on this first journey they may have to face pretty severe conditions. Then, of course, there is the danger of losing them on thin ice or by injury sustained in rough places. Although we have fifteen now (two having gone for the Eastern Party) it is not at all certain that we shall have such a number when the main journey is undertaken next season. One can only be careful and hope for the best.’
Sunday, January 15.—We had decided to observe this day as a ‘day of rest,’ and so it has been.
At one time or another the majority have employed their spare hours in writing letters.
We rose late, having breakfast at nine. The morning
