i 9 02] LAST SLEDGE JOURNEY OF THE SEASON 201 



But on this occasion there was a stronger reason for the 

 inefficiency of the dogs. They were losing their coats ; the 

 thick fur was coming out in handfuls, and the young downy 

 coat underneath formed a wretched protection against the 

 bitterly cold winds that headed us. The habits of the animals 

 were of course adapted to their northern home, where at this 

 time the warm summer would be just commencing and where 

 no doubt they would have been glad enough to be free of 

 their thick winter garment ; but that Nature should oblige 

 them to discard it at the same season in this hemisphere was 

 obviously ill-timed. As a matter of fact, our poor dogs 

 suffered a great deal from their poorly clothed condition during 

 the next week or two, and we could do little to help them ; 

 but Nature seemed to realise the mistake, and came quickly 

 to the rescue : the new coats grew surprisingly fast, and before 

 the winter had really settled down on us all the animals were 

 again enveloped in their normally thick woolly covering. It 

 may here be remarked that they moulted again in the spring ; 

 what would have happened in the following autumn cannot be 

 said, for by that time, alas ! all our team had ceased to be ; 

 but it seems as though they were already adapted to their new 

 environment. 



The fact that the dogs refused to do their share of the 

 work on this trip meant of course that we had to do a good 

 deal more than ours, and the resultant load per man was a 

 great deal more than we ever afterwards sought to inflict on 

 a party. We were practically doomed to failure, but each 

 hour was an invaluable experience. On the first day we had 

 already travelled some way over the new sea-ice when we 

 realised that we must cross it before camping, as on it we 

 could get no snow, either to fill our cookers or to secure our 

 tents. This meant a long pull, and the night fell on us as we 

 struggled with all the unaccustomed details of pitching camp. 

 The thermometer fell to — 40 before we could climb into our 

 ill-made fur clothing, and the hours which followed were 

 comfortless enough to have discouraged the most ardent 

 sledger. For two more days we pushed on in the same dis- 



