To me the revisiting of these old scenes was supremely interesting. Here was the place where, years before, when the _Discovery_ was lying fast in the ice close to the shore, we used to dig for the ice required for the supply of fresh water. The marks of the picks and shovel could still be seen, and I noticed an old case bedded in the ice, and remembered the day when it had been thrown away. The fascination of the unknown swept upon me as I stood in those familiar surroundings, and I longed to be away towards the south on the journey that I hoped would lay bare the mysteries of the Pole. The old hut had never been a cheerful place even when we were camped alongside it in the _Discovery_, and it looked doubly inhospitable now after standing empty for six years. I proposed, however, to use it as a stores depot in connection with the southern journey, for it was twenty miles further south than our winter quarters. We slept there that night and on the following morning started for our journey across the Barrier. The chief result of this expedition was to convince me that we could not place much reliance on the motor-car for the southern journey, because the condition of the surface on the Barrier varied from mile to mile, and it would be impossible to keep changing the wheels of the car so as to meet the requirements of each new surface. Professor David and Armytage had also received a good baptism of frost, and as it was desirable that every member of the expedition should have personal experience of travelling over ice and snow in low temperatures before the real work began, I arranged to dispatch a small party every week to sledge stores and equipment south to Hut Point. I did not hesitate to let these parties face bad weather, because the road was well known, and a rough experience would be useful to men later on. Each party returned with adventures to relate, and curiously all of them encountered bad weather, but there were no accidents and the men seemed to enjoy the work. Early in September Adams, Marshall and I started for Hut Point, and decided to make one march of the twenty-three miles, and not camp on the way. A blizzard, however, struck us when we were near our goal, and abandoning the extra weights we were pulling for the depot, we managed to reach the hut in a sorely frost-bitten condition. I mention this to show how constantly one has to guard against the onslaughts of the elements in the inhospitable regions of the south.