1 64 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [NOVEMBER 



the primus cooked the pemmican hoosh. Then cocoa (or tea) 

 is made by pouring water from the outer cooker into the inner 

 cooker, where a flavour of pemmican is superadded to it. I 

 liked cocoa best for marching, the others preferred tea, so we 

 had alternate days, though the sledging law says ' cocoa.' 



With regard to biscuits we were in two camps. At Shackle- 

 ton's depot we found a cache of ordinary biscuits and Debenham 

 preferred these, so I agreed to take a small tin along in lieu 

 of an equal weight of sledging biscuits. So that Gran and I 

 had two sledge biscuits each while the * soft-teeth ' ate Shackle- 

 ton's brand. Forde dropped a cake of chocolate in his cocoa. 

 Nous autres preferred to eat it at lunch. 



Lunch. We always had tea; Gran and I liked it weaker 

 and the other two had the last pannikins full. Six lumps of 

 sugar per man were served out, and as many raisins as you 

 could carry out of the bag in your spoon. (N.B. It had to be 

 a dry spoon.) Butter was whacked out if you hadn't had it 

 already. I made mine last lunch and supper by putting a bit 

 by, though sometimes the bit vanished under the hot hoosh if 

 I forgot to take it out of the pannikin. Three biscuits each and 

 a cake of chocolate. 



Supper. Cocoa follows hoosh. We have two biscuits and 

 a cake of chocolate. One spoon was used in our camp for 

 measuring, stirring, tasting, eating soup and tea, &c. all alter- 

 nating gaily as different operations employ the cook. I believe 

 other camps followed the rule, ' One man one spoon one cup,' 

 but we were strictly socialistic. If your tea or hoosh was too hot 

 you stood it on the floor. If you didn't watch it, it might melt 

 its way out of sight but that was a most infrequent incident. 

 ' Shut-eye ' was played to ensure fair division; the cook pointing 

 to the fragments of chocolate or butter and the blind person 

 giving one of our names. The cook has to share out food, 

 stir the hoosh, watch the primus and generally hop around; 

 so that he has a busy time. This doesn't matter except at sup- 

 per, when he doesn't get his feet warm in dry socks as soon as 

 the others. 



When the snow stopped Gran and I walked to the root of 

 the ice tongue and climbed up the granite cliffs to the west of it. 

 On the top we found a bare plateau 300 yards wide on which 

 were some large lichens and a small patch of true moss, quite 



