316 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



system we aimed at was to divide them into units of three, 

 which should be self-contained, so that whenever it was advis- 

 able a party could be split up into threes, or three could be 

 detached from it, or, again, three people could leave the ship 

 without carrying more than was necessary for their require- 

 ments. It is obvious that with such a system each unit of 

 three must have its own tent, its own sleeping-bag, cooker, and 

 so on ; and herein lies a disadvantage, as economy of material 

 and weight can be better carried out with a large unit than 

 with a small one. It has also to be remembered that the risk 

 of accident is increased in a small party by the diminishing of 

 its capacity for mutual assistance. But with our small crew it 

 was clearly advisable that we should be able to break up into 

 small numbers, and in the course of events we frequently did 

 so. It will be understood, therefore, why each article which 

 I am about to describe was designed to satisfy the require- 

 ments of three men, and this fact should be remembered in 

 comparing any weights I may quote with those carried by 

 former expeditions. 



The object of a tent is to provide shelter from the wind and 

 drifting snow. Those we used were bell-shaped. Some were 

 made of the lightest green Willesden canvas, and others of 

 thin gaberdine ; we rather preferred the former, as they let 

 in more light, and the green tint was especially grateful to 

 the eye. 



Each tent was spread on five bamboo poles ; the poles 

 were seven feet in length, and united at the top, and when 

 spread the tent was about five feet six inches in height and 

 about six feet in diameter on the floor. It was kept more or 

 less tight down on the poles by digging out and piling blocks 

 of snow on its vallance, or skirting edge — a device which also 

 effectually prevented the wind and snowdrift from getting in 

 beneath it. The entrance was a hole about two and a half 

 feet in diameter, and the funnel-shaped door was sewn around 

 its edge, so fitted that the material of which it was composed 

 could be gathered up into a bunch and tied from the inside. 

 This bunch once tied up, the entrance was practically 



