i 9 02] THE PASSING OF OUR DOG TEAM 63 



away on to the snow ; luckily it all remained on our waterproof 

 floorcloth, and by the time we had done scraping I do not 

 think that any was wasted.' 



'Jamiary 1, 1903. — We have opened the new year with 

 a march which is likely to be a sample of those which will 

 follow for many a day to come. The state of our dog team is 

 now quite pitiable; with a very few exceptions they cannot 

 pretend to pull ; at the start of the march some have to be 

 lifted on to their feet and held up for a minute or two before 

 their limbs become stiff enough to support them. Poor 

 " Spud " fell in his tracks to-day ; we carried him for a 

 long way on the sledge, and then tried him once more, 

 but he fell again, and had to be carried for the rest of the 

 journey tucked away inside the canvas tank. Towards the 

 end of our day's march it has always been possible to get 

 a semblance of spirit into our poor animals by saying, "Up 

 for supper." They learnt early what the words meant, and 

 it has generally been "Spud" who gave the first responsive 

 whimper. This afternoon it was most pathetic ; the cheering 

 shout for the last half-mile was raised as usual, but there was 

 no response, until suddenly from the interior of the sledge- 

 tank came the muffled ghost of a whimper. It was "Spud's" 

 last effort : on halting we carried him back to his place, but in 

 an hour he was dead. 



'The whole team are in a truly lamentable condition ; 

 " Gus " and " Bismarck " are tottering ; " Lewis " and " Birdie " 

 may fail any moment ; " Jim " is probably the strongest — he 

 had reserves of fat to draw on, and has been a great thief; 

 " Nigger " is something of a mystery : he is weak, but not 

 reduced to the same straits as the others, and seems capable 

 of surprising efforts. 



1 This afternoon a southerly breeze sprang up, and we 

 improvised a sail out of our tent floorcloth ; it makes an 

 excellent spread of canvas. Some time ago I fixed up our 

 bamboo mast as a permanency by stepping it in the runner 

 and binding it with wire to one of the standards. On this we 

 hoisted our sail, spreading it with two bamboo ski-poles. This 



