i 9 02] RECORD-MAKING 51 



hoosh. This would lead to the stock of pemmican on board 

 the ship, and a recollection of the gorgeous yellow fat with 

 which it was incorporated ; the ship would recall feasts of seal, 

 thick soup, and thicker porridge, and on one would speed to 

 the recollection of special nights when our fare had been still 

 more bountiful, and on again to all the resources of civilised 

 life ; the farewell dinner at So-and-so, what would it be like if 

 it was spread out here on the barrier ? One remembers 

 declining a particularly succulent dish ; what an extraordinary 

 thing to do ! What a different being one must have been in 

 those days ! And so one's thoughts travelled on from place 

 to place, but always through the one medium of creature 

 comfort. 



It is natural that a diary kept through these long weeks 

 should have reflected the subject that most fully occupied our 

 thoughts and our conversation, and, as the weakness of the 

 dogs curtailed our marches and left ample time for writing, I 

 find copious allusions to the somewhat distressing circum- 

 stances which attended our experiences in this respect. 



But it must not be supposed that we were wholly absorbed 

 by this subject ; if there were trials and tribulations in our 

 daily life at this time, there were also compensating circum- 

 stances whose import we fully realised. Day by day, as we 

 journeyed on, we knew we were penetrating farther and farther 

 into the unknown ; each footstep was a gain, and made the 

 result of our labour more solid It would be difficult to 

 describe with what eagerness we studied the slowly revolving 

 sledge-meter, or looked for the calculated results of our obser- 

 vations, while ever before our eyes was the line which we were 

 now drawing on the white space of the Antarctic chart. Day 

 by day, too, though somewhat slowly, there passed on that 

 magnificent panorama of the western land. Rarely a march 

 passed without the disclosure of some new feature, something on 

 which the eye of man had never yet rested ; we should have 

 been poor souls indeed had we not been elated at the privilege 

 of being the first to gaze on these splendid scenes. 



On December 26 we had another brilliant, calm and 



