i 9 ii] RESULTS OF THE TRIP 253 



By this time the miserable condition of their effects was beyond 

 description. The sleeping-bags were far too stiff to be rolled 

 up, in fact they were so hard frozen that attempts to bend them 

 actually split the skins; the eiderdown bags inside Wilson's and 

 C.-G.'s reindeer covers served but to fitfully stop the gaps made 

 by such rents. All socks, finnesko, and mits had long been 

 coated with ice; placed in breast pockets or inside vests at night 

 they did not even show signs of thawing, much less of drying. 

 It sometimes took C.-G. three-quarters of an hour to get into his 

 sleeping-bag, so flat did it freeze and so difficult was it to open. 

 It is scarcely possible to realise the horrible discomforts of the for- 

 lorn travellers as they plodded back across the Barrier with the 

 temperature again constantly below 6o. In this fashion they 

 reached Hut Point and on the following night our home quarters. 



Wilson is disappointed at seeing so little of the penguins, 

 but to me and to everyone who has remained here the result of 

 this effort is the appeal it makes to our imagination as one of 

 the most gallant stories in Polar History. That men should 

 wander forth in the depth of a Polar night to face the most 

 dismal cold and the fiercest gales in darkness is something new; 

 that they should have persisted in this effort in spite of every 

 adversity for five full weeks is heroic. It makes a tale for our 

 generation which I hope may not be lost in the telling. 



Moreover the material results are by no means despicable. 

 We shall know now when that extraordinary bird the Emperor 

 penguin lays its eggs, and under what conditions; but even if 

 our information remains meagre concerning its embryology, our 

 party has shown the nature of the conditions which exist on the 

 Great Barrier in winter. Hitherto we have only imagined their 

 severity; now we have proof, and a positive light is thrown on 

 the local climatology of our Strait. 



Experience of Sledging Rations and Equipment 



For our future sledge work several points have been most 

 satisfactorily settled. The party went on a very simple food 

 ration in different and extreme proportions; they took pemmi- 

 can, butter, biscuit and tea only. After a short experience they 

 found that Wilson, who had arranged for the greatest quantity 

 of fat, had too much of it, and C.-G., who had gone for biscuit, 

 had more than he could eat. A middle course was struck which 



