Slipping the tent over the poles placed close to the ground in the lee of the sledge, two of us raised the poles while the other shovelled snow on to the skirt of the tent, which we pulled out by degrees until it was finally spread to its full dimensions. Glad indeed were we to turn in and escape from the biting blast and drifting snow. This violent blizzard blew throughout the whole of the next day, and we spent it for the most part in our sleeping-bags; but on the 13th we arrived at Butter Point, which is merely an angle in the low ice-cliff near the junction of the Ferrar Glacier valley with the main shore of Victoria Land, and made a depot there. 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. [Illustration: Loaded Sledge showing the Distance Recorder or Sledge-meter]