# BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION—SHACKLETON, 363 
could not have become tainted in the usual way, we assumed that it 
was due to the toxin of exhaustion, the animal having been killed 
when very weary. 
We were assisted on the southward march over the Barrier by 
snow mounds erected on the outward journey, and we picked up the 
depots without any difficulty, reaching each with our food bags empty. 
We could not march at all on February 4, owing to acute dysentery, 
‘but we were able to continue on the following days, and on February 
23 we reached a depot, laid out off Minna Bluff in readiness for our 
return, by a party from the winter quarters. We were all safe on 
board the Nimrod on March 4. 
The latitude observations made on the southern journey were 
taken with the theodolite, as were all the bearings, angles, and azi- 
muths. Variation was ascertained by means of a compass attached 
to the theodolite, and the steering compasses were checked accord- 
ingly. At noon each day the prismatic compasses were placed in 
the true meridian and checked against the theodolite compass and 
the steering compasses. The last latitude observation on the outward 
journey was taken in 87° 22’ §., and the remainder of the distance 
toward the south was calculated by sledge meter and dead reckoning. 
The accuracy of the sledge meter had been proved by the fact that 
the daily record of distance traveled agreed roughly with the ob- 
servations for position. We took only one observation on the return 
journey, on January 31, and then found that our position had been 
accurately recorded by the sledge meter. 
The results of the southern journey may be summarized briefly. 
We found that a chain of great mountains stretched north by east 
from Mount Markham as far as the eighty-sixth parallel, and that 
other ranges ran toward the southwest, south, and southeast between 
the eighty-fourth and the eighty-sixth parallels. We ascended one 
of the largest glaciers in the world on to a high plateau, which in 
all probability is a continuation of the Victoria Land plateau. The 
geographical pole almost certainly lies on this plateau, at an altitude 
of between 10,000 and 11,000 feet above sea level. The discovery of 
coal and fossil wood has a very important bearing on the question of 
the past geological history of the Antarctic Continent. 
The northern party consisted of Professor David, Doctor Mackay, 
and Douglas Mawson. The three men left Cape Royds on October 5, 
and traveled on the sea ice along the coast as far as the Drygalski 
Barrier tongue. They had neither dogs nor ponies, and as they 
could not haul the whole of their load at one time they had to relay 
their two sledges, thus covering the ground three times. They 
reached the Drygalski tongue on November 30, and from that point 
struck inland in a northwest direction, with a lightened load, toward 
the south magnetic pole. They crossed the Drygalski Glacier with 
