340 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



CHAPTER XI 



TYPICAL SLEDGING EXPERIENCES 



Use of Dogs for Sledging — A Discussion of their Merits — History of our 

 Dog Team — Discomforts of Sledge-travelling — Typical Experiences — 

 The Ordinary Routine— Result of a Blizzard — Benefit of Summer Tem- 

 peratures — Disadvantages of Summer — The Fascination of Sledging. 



By mutual confidence and mutual aid 



Great deeds are done and great discoveries made. — Anon. 



'Tis a weary round to which we are bound 

 The same thing over and over again ; 

 Much toil and trouble. — Lindsay Gordon. 



From the outline of our sledging arrangements which I have 

 given in the previous chapter, the reader will understand the 

 occupation of our time and thoughts throughout the later 

 months of the dark season. Yet this outline has been 

 necessarily of a fragmentary nature, and I am conscious 

 of having missed many points of importance. To one of 

 these, at least, I ought to refer, since the chapter has made 

 no mention of our four-footed friends, who were to play so 

 important and tragic a part in our longest journey. 



The use of dogs for sledging is a subject about which there 

 has been much controversy. Broadly speaking, there are two 

 ways in which dogs may be used — they may be taken with the 

 idea of bringing them all back safe and sound, or they may be 

 treated as pawns in the game, from which the best value is to 

 be got regardless of their lives. 



In the first case their value is indicated by a direct com- 

 parison of their pulling power and food requirement with that 



