SKI-DRIVING 21 



and were driving with a line. I had made up my mind 

 to follow in the rear, as I thought the dogs would not 

 keep this up for long, but I soon had enough of it. 

 We did the first six and a quarter miles in an hour. 

 I thought that would do for me, so I went up to 

 Wisting, made a rope fast to his sledge, and there 

 I stood till we reached 85° 5' S. — three hundred and 

 forty miles. Yes; that was a pleasant surprise. We 

 had never dreamed of anything of the sort — driving on 

 ski to the Pole! Thanks to Hanssen's brilliant talents 

 as a dog-driver, we could easily do this. He had his 

 dogs well in hand, and they knew their master. They 

 knew that the moment they failed to do their duty they 

 would be pulled up, and a hiding all round would 

 follow. Of course, as always happens, Nature occasion- 

 ally got the better of discipline; but the "confirma- 

 tion " that resulted checked any repetition of such 

 conduct for a long while. The day's march was soon 

 completed in this way, and we camped early. 



On the following day we were already in sight of the 

 large pressure-ridges on the east, which we had seen for 

 the first time on the second depot journey between 81° 

 and 82° S., and this showed that the atmosphere must 

 be very clear. We could not see any greater number 

 than the first time, however. From our experience of 

 beacons built of snow, we could see that if we built such 

 beacons now, on our way south, they would be splendid 

 marks for our return journey; we therefore decided to 



