1903] STRAIN OF THE SOUTHERN JOURNEY 121 



so it was, and I can well remember the look of astonishment 

 that dawned on those faces when we gradually displayed our 

 power of absorbing food. As we ate on long after the appe- 

 tites of our visitors had been satisfied, there was at first mild 

 surprise : then we could see politeness struggling with bewilder- 

 ment ; and finally the sense of the ludicrous overcame all 

 forms, and our guests were forced to ask whether this sort of 

 thing often happened, and whether we had had anything at all 

 to eat on our southern journey. 



But although we found our appetites very difficult to 

 appease, for a fortnight after our return from the south our 

 party were in a very sorry condition. Shackleton at once took 

 to his bed, and although he soon made an effort to be out and 

 about again, he found that the least exertion caused a return 

 of his breathlessness, and more than once on entering or leav- 

 ing the living-quarters he had a return of those violent fits of 

 coughing which had given him so much trouble on the journey ; 

 now, however, after such attacks, he could creep into his cabin 

 and there rest until the strain had worn off and some measure 

 of his strength returned. With Wilson, who at one time had 

 shown the least signs of scurvy, the disease had increased very 

 rapidly towards the end. He had slightly strained his leg 

 early in the journey, and here the symptoms were most 

 evident, causing swelling and discolouration behind the knee ; 

 his gums also had dropped into a bad state, so he wisely 

 decided to take to his bed, where he remained perfectly quiet 

 for ten days. This final collapse showed the grim determination 

 which alone must have upheld him during the last marches. 



If I was the least affected of the party, I was by no means 

 fit and well : although I was able to struggle about during the 

 daytime, I had both legs much swollen and very uncomfortable 

 gums. But the worst result of the tremendous reaction which 

 overcame us, I found to be the extraordinary feeling of lassi- 

 tude which it produced ; it was an effort to move, and during 

 the shortest walks abroad I had an almost unconquerable 

 inclination to sit down wherever a seat could be found. And 

 this lassitude was not physical only 5 to write, or even to think, 



