3i8 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



design and complete suitability for Antarctic purposes. A 

 tent made to contain more persons would naturally economise 

 material and save weight, but I have already explained why 

 we chose ours of such small dimensions. Silk is a possible 

 substitute for the heavier material we employed, but, strong as 

 it is, I doubt whether it would have equal wearing qualities, 

 and should it fail in this respect one might pay dearly for the 

 saving in weight. 



Experience teaches that the comfort of a tent depends 

 largely on banishing loose snow and snowdrift. People learn 

 to take the most extraordinary precautions in brushing their 

 clothes and their boots before entering, and in having the 

 floorcloth well swept within —precautions which are a great aid 

 in keeping the equipment free from ice, and thus decreasing 

 the weights carried as well as the discomforts of the journey. 

 But this care is largely a question of personality ; and just as 

 in a house it is generally some particular person who deposits 

 mud on the carpets, so in a tent it is generally some particular 

 person who seems incurably desirous of adding to the snow 

 within. The qualities of a sledging companion, however, are 

 compounded of too many elements for him to be condemned 

 on such a trait alone, and in that small community of three, 

 where nothing can be hidden, and good and bad must alike 

 be judged, it is not improbable that this very carelessness may 

 serve to make the delinquent the more beloved. 



Though it may not appear so on the surface, the sleeping- 

 bag is really a more important article of equipment than the 

 tent. In the bitter blast of an Antarctic storm it would be 

 possible to exist without a tent, but it is doubtful if one could 

 remain alive without the shelter of 'the bag,' or some 

 additional clothing which corresponded to it. All our fur 

 clothing had been purchased in Norway ; we had some suits 

 and mits made of wolf-skin, but the greater proportion of the 

 furs were of reindeer-skin. The pelt of the reindeer does not 

 possess a fur in the sense which might be understood by ladies 

 who are accustomed to dress themselves in the soft expensive 

 productions of a London furrier ; the reindeer possesses only 



