172 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



when used in that way, and it is more wholesome for the dogs, 

 but dogs going out on a trip ought to get their field food at 

 least a week before starting, so as to accustom their stomachs 

 to the new rations. 



Some training is highly necessary before starting with dogs 

 on a long sledge trip, first, in order to harden their feet, 

 secondly, to accustom the dogs in one team to the ways of each 

 other, and, thirdly, to ascertain the changes necessitated by the 

 characters of the individual dogs e.g., two fighting dogs cannot 

 be in one team, as in that case a catastrophe sooner or later is 

 bound to occur. But the most important thing is to find out 

 which of the dogs are of any use and which are not. When a 

 dog has been tried thoroughly, and cannot be induced to pull 

 either by the whip or good words, he may as well be given 

 away or shot, as the chances are that he will only eat a working 

 dog's share of food without being of any use. 



Tent and Camping Outfit. As stated before, we had 

 endeavoured to make our tent as comfortable as possible, and 

 although it was small, we succeeded beyond our highest hopes. 



Instead of the formerly described native tent, we constructed 

 one which we thought would be more simple a tent 6 by 6j 

 and 4 feet high. Six bent sticks held the canvas in place, 

 the sticks were held together at the top with a small piece of 

 rope, and to make the joint stiff we had a small stick which 

 was lashed on over the joint and could be fixed from the inside. 

 The face of the tent was straight, and the door, which was of 

 the kind Captain Scott used, was sewn on to it. It consisted 

 of a hole about 2\ feet in diameter, with a piece of drilling of 

 i feet sewn all the way round. Small rings were sewn along 

 the edge of this flap, and a piece of thin line rove through. 

 Whenever we wanted to close the door we hauled in the 

 string, and gathering up the loose cloth in one hand we 

 wrapped the string round it with the other, till it was perfectly 

 wind and snow proof. The sticks were placed in such a manner 

 that the back was half-round, making a small extension to the 

 floor space, an extension which was used to stow away the 

 food box and cooking utensils. Constructed in this way, the 

 tent presented a round surface behind as well as on the sides, 

 and it was always pitched so that the back was turned to wind- 

 ward. The front and back were both made of double material, 



