THE FIRST ACCOUNT 



ON February 10, 1911, we started for the South to 

 establish depots, and continued our journey until 

 April 11. We formed three depots and stored in them 

 3 tons of provisions, including 22 hundredweight of seal 

 meat. As there were no landmarks, we had to indicate 

 the position of our depots by flags, which were posted at 

 a distance of about four miles to the east and west. The 

 first barrier afforded the best going, and was specially 

 adapted for dog-sledging. Thus, on February 15 we 

 did sixty-two miles with sledges. Each sledge weighed 

 660 pounds, and we had six dogs for each. The upper 

 barrier (" barrier surface ") was smooth and even. There 

 were a few crevasses here and there, but we only found 

 them dangerous at one or two points. The barrier 

 went in long, regular undulations. The weather was 

 very favourable, with calms or light winds. The lowest 

 temperature at this station was - 49 F., which was 

 taken on March 4. 



When we returned to winter quarters on February 5 



from a first trip, we found that the Fram had already 



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