1902] POSSIBLE CAUSES OF OUR OUTBREAK 407 



our disposal, it was not until the spring of 1901 that our pro- 

 vision list was finally drawn up and the necessary orders 

 given ; the orders were distributed over a large number of 

 firms, and deliveries were directed to be made to the East 

 India Docks, where a shed had been placed at our disposal. 

 At the same time, by the courtesy of the Health Office of the 

 City of London, it was arranged that all the tinned food 

 collected in the shed should be examined by one of their 

 officials before it was transmitted to the ' Discovery.' The 

 examination showed that, as far as could be seen, everything 

 was of good quality with the exception of one delivery, and it 

 became a question whether we should reject the whole of this 

 delivery and seek a fresh contractor, or whether we should 

 reject only the portion that was unsatisfactory and demand 

 its renewal. Urgency decided in favour of the latter alter- 

 native. It must be understood that the food supplied after 

 this rejection, and indeed all the food that actually sailed in 

 the 'Discovery,' was examined, but such an examination has 

 obvious limitations. The suspicious circumstance was that 

 anything ordered for the ' Discovery ' should have been un- 

 satisfactory, and the inference was that if there were short- 

 comings in this delivery which the examination could detect, 

 there would probably be others which it could not. 



On our arrival in New Zealand we shipped a large addition 

 to our stock of tinned food, some on a consignment from 

 Australia, and some on purchase in the colony itself; both 

 deliveries were excellent as far as we had any power of 

 judging. 



I have already given some idea of our routine in winter 

 quarters with regard to meals. It will be recalled that we had 

 seal-meat twice a week, mutton once, and tinned meat on the 

 remaining days ; the problem is, which of these gave us the 

 scurvy ? 



As regards the seal-meat, I think we may at once reject 

 the idea. The animals had to be skinned immediately after 

 they were killed, and carcases were thus frozen within a very 

 short space of time. 



