i 9 o 3 ] MY TWO REMAINING COMPANIONS 191 



at the time, I could get a good idea of its amount by observing 

 the direction in which the sun reached its greatest altitude. 

 The reader will see that from a magnetic point of view this 

 was a very interesting region. We were directly south of the 

 south magnetic pole, and the north end of our compass needle 

 was pointing towards the South (geographical) Pole. 



To show what a practical bearing this reversal of the 

 compass had, I may remark that in directing Skelton on his 

 homeward track to the eastward, I told him to steer due west 

 by the compass card. It is only on this line or the similar 

 one which joins the northern poles that such an order could 

 be given, and we were not a little proud of being the first to 

 experience this distinctly interesting physical condition in the 

 Southern Hemisphere. 



From the date on which, so reluctantly, I decided that 

 some of my party should turn homeward, there followed for 

 us who remained, three weeks of the hardest physical work 

 that I have ever experienced, and yet three weeks on which 

 I cannot but look with unmixed satisfaction, for I do not think 

 it would have been possible to have accomplished more in the 

 time. I have little wonder when I remember the splendid 

 qualities and physique of the two men who remained with me 

 by such a severe process of selection. Evans was a man of 

 Herculean strength, very long in the arm and with splendidly 

 developed muscles. He had been a gymnastic instructor in 

 the Navy, and had always been an easy winner in all our sports 

 which involved tests of strength. He weighed 12 st. 10 lbs. in 

 hard condition. Lashly, in appearance, was the most deceptive 

 man I have ever seen. He was not above the ordinary height, 

 nor did he look more than ordinarily broad, and yet he weighed 

 13 st. 8 lbs., and had one of the largest chest measurements in 

 the ship. He had been a teetotaller and non-smoker all his 

 life, and was never in anything but the hardest condition. 



My own weight at this time was about 1 1 st. 6 lbs. j it fell 

 so far short of the others that I felt I really did not deserve 

 such a large food allowance, though I continued to take my 

 full share. 



