254 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 



gave a general proportion agreeable to all, and at the same 

 time suited the total quantities of the various articles carried. 

 In this way we have arrived at a simple and suitable ration for 

 the inland plateau. The only change suggested is the addition 

 of cocoa for the evening meal. The party contented themselves 

 with hot water, deeming that tea might rob them of their slender 

 chance of sleep. 



On sleeping-bags little new can be said — the eiderdown bag 

 may be a useful addition for a short time on a spring journey, 

 but they soon get iced up. 



Bowers did not use an eiderdown bag throughout, and in 

 some miraculous manner he managed to turn his reindeer bag 

 two or three times during the journey. The following are the 

 weights of sleeping-bags before and after: 



Starting Final 



Weight. Weight. 



Wilson, reindeer and eiderdown 17 40 



Bowers, reindeer only 17 33 



C. -Garrard, reindeer and eiderdown .... 18 45 



This gives some idea of the ice collected. 



The double tent has been reported an immense success. It 

 weighed about 35 lbs. at starting and 60 lbs. on return: the ice 

 mainly collected on the inner tent. 



The crampons are much praised, except by Bowers, who 

 has an eccentric attachment to our older form. We have dis- 

 covered a hundred details of clothes, mits, and footwear: there 

 seems no solution to the difficulties which attach to these articles 

 in extreme cold; all Wilson can say, speaking broadly, is 'the 

 gear is excellent, excellent.' One continues to wonder as to 

 the possibilities of fur clothing as made by the Esquimaux, with 

 a sneaking feeling that it may outclass our more civilised garb. 

 For us this can only be a matter of speculation, as it would have 

 been quite impossible to have obtained such articles. With the 

 exception of this radically different alternative, I feel sure we 

 are as near perfection as experience can direct. 



At any rate we can now hold that our system of clothing 

 has come through a severer test than any other, fur included. 



Effect of Journey. — Wilson lost y/2 lbs.; Bowers lost 2>^ 

 lbs.; C. -Garrard lost i lb. 



