SUPPLIES 67 



that was not quite successful, for it often happened 

 that a pin-hole was left unsoldered, through which 

 moisture would eventually find its way and the rice 

 be spoilt. 



Even more difficult than the rice to keep dry were 

 the dried fish and dried meat, which were sent to us 

 packed in wooden boxes ; the stuff quickly became 

 sodden from the moisture-laden atmosphere, and although 

 we kept coolies constantly employed in drying it in 

 the sun, an enormous amount of it became rotten and 

 was thrown awa}^ The only effectual method of pre- 

 serving the dried meat and fish is to seal it up like 

 the rice in soldered tins. The tin always used for this 

 purpose is the rectangular tin in which kerosene oil 

 is imported to the East ; filled with rice it weighs about 

 forty pounds. 



In writing the history of this expedition I should 

 not be honest if I were to refrain from mentioning the 

 fact that some of our own stores were, to say the least, 

 ill-chosen. It appeared that a large quantity of stores 

 had been bought from the Shackleton Expedition, 

 which had returned from the Antarctic a few months 

 before we left England. However suitable those pro- 

 visions may have been for a Polar expedition, they were 

 not the sort of thing one would have chosen for a 

 journey in the Tropics. For instance, large tins of 

 " bully-beef " are excellent in a cold climate, but when 

 you open them near the Equator you find that they 

 consist of pallid lumps of pink flesh swimming in a 

 nasty gravy. Pea-soup and pea-flour, of which we 

 had nearly four hundred pounds' weight, strike terror 



