i9] A PONY ACCIDENT 299 



1 Y. . . . works hard at his own work, taking extraordinary 

 pains with it, but with an astonishing lack of initiative he makes 

 not the smallest effort to grasp the work of others; it is a sort 

 of character which plants itself in a corner and will stop there. 



1 The men are equally fine. Edgar Evans has proved a use- 

 ful member of our party; he looks after our sledges and sledge 

 equipment with a care of management and a fertility of re- 

 source which is truly astonishing on ' trek ' he is just as sound 

 and hard as ever and has an inexhaustible store of anecdote. 



1 Crean is perfectly happy, ready to do anything and go any- 

 where, the harder the work, the better. Evans and Crean are 

 great friends. Lashly is his old self in every respect, hard work- 

 ing to the limit, quiet, abstemious, and determined. You see 

 altogether I have a good set of people with me, and it will go 

 hard if we don't achieve something. 



' The study of individual character is a pleasant pastime 

 in such a mixed community of thoroughly nice people, and the 

 study of relationships and interactions is fascinating men of 

 the most diverse upbringings and experience are really pals with 

 one another, and the subjects which would be delicate ground 

 of discussion between acquaintances are just those which are most 

 freely used for jests. For instance the Soldier is never tired of 

 girding at Australia, its people and institutions, and the Aus- 

 tralians retaliate by attacking the hide-bound prejudices of the 

 British army. I have never seen a temper lost in these dis- 

 cussions. So as I sit here I am very satisfied with these things. 

 I think that it would have been difficult to better the organisation 

 of the party every man has his work and is especially adapted 

 for it; there is no gap and no overlap it is all that I desired, 

 and the same might be said of the men selected to do the work.' 



It promised to be very fine to-day, but the wind has already 

 sprung up and clouds are gathering again. There was a very 

 beautiful curved ' banner ' cloud south of Erebus this morning, 

 perhaps a warning of what is to come. 



Another accident ! At one o'clock ' Snatcher,' one of the 

 three ponies laying the depot, arrived with single trace and 

 dangling sledge in a welter of sweat. Forty minutes after P.O. 

 Evans, his driver, came in almost as hot; simultaneously Wilson 



