322 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



as keen during a period of forced inaction as when a long day's 

 work was being performed. 



The above, therefore, shows that food cannot be materially 

 reduced whilst parties remain in camp, and that the sooner 

 they are on the march again the better it is for the distance 

 they will eventually be able to travel. The figures which I 

 have quoted also tend to show why it is that a man requires 

 more food in a polar climate than in a temperate one, for it is 

 evident that the expenditure on bodily heat will be larger. 



During our second year in the South I very carefully 

 calculated the food which was provided for my own party, but 

 I allowed other officers to modify this allowance according to 

 their own ideas. I then calculated the result of my own and 

 Barne's ideas to rank in the following table. It is now pretty 

 generally known that our ordinary food can be placed under 

 three headings — the proteids, or nitrogenous food, such as is 

 mainly supplied by meats ; the fats ; and the carbohydrates, 

 or farinaceous foods. It is known also that man ordinarily 

 assimilates a given proportion of these various natures of food. 

 I do not vouch for the exact accuracy of this table, more 

 especially as I find authorities differ much as to actual require- 

 ments in this respect ; the table purports to give the number 

 of ounces of water-free food required under the different 

 headings, and I have neglected salts. 



In my first year of sledging work I went south with something 

 considerably under the allowance given above, when my party 

 suffered much from hunger and grew decidedly weaker ; in the 

 second year, with the allowance shown, our strength was fairly 



