19"] THE TWO ESQUIMAUX DOGS 261 



the headstall. I doubt if this question will be difficult to settle, 

 but the snow-shoe problem is much more serious. This has been 

 much in our minds of late, and Petty Officer Evans has been 

 making trial shoes for Snatcher on vague ideas of our remem- 

 brance of the shoes worn for lawn mowing. 



Besides the problem of the form of the shoes, comes the 

 question of the means of attachment. All sorts of suggestions 

 were made last night as to both points, and the discussion cleared 

 the air a good deal. I think that with slight modification our 

 present pony snow-shoes made on the grating or racquet principle 

 may prove best after all. The only drawback is that they are 

 made for very soft snow and unnecessarily large for the Barrier; 

 this would make them liable to be strained on hard patches. The 

 alternative seems to be to perfect the principle of the lawn mow- 

 ing shoe, which is little more than a stiff bag over the hoof. 



Perhaps we shall come to both kinds : the first for the quiet 

 animals and the last for the more excitable. I am confident 

 the matter is of first importance. 



Monday, August 14. Since the comparatively short storm 

 of Friday, in which we had a temperature of 30 with a 

 50 m.p.h. wind, we have had two delightfully calm days, and 

 to-day there is every promise of the completion of a third. On 

 such days the light is quite good for three to four hours at mid- 

 day and has a cheering effect on man and beast. 



The ponies are so pleased that they seize the slightest oppor- 

 tunity to part company with their leaders and gallop off with 

 tail and heels flung high. The dogs are equally festive and are 

 getting more exercise than could be given in the dark. The two 

 Esquimaux dogs have been taken in hand by Clissold, as I have 

 noted before. He now takes them out with a leader borrowed 

 from Meares, usually little 4 Noogis.' On Saturday the sledge 

 capsized at the tide crack; Clissold was left on the snow whilst 

 the team disappeared in the distance. Noogis returned later, 

 having eaten through his harness, and the others were eventually 

 found some two miles away, ' foul ' of an ice hummock. Yes- 

 terday Clissold took the same team to Cape Royds; they brought 

 back a load of 100 lbs. a dog in about two hours. It would 

 have been a good performance for the best dogs in the time, 

 and considering that Meares pronounced these two dogs useless, 

 Clissold deserves a great deal of credit. 



