FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY 



enabled us to sleep in our bags in comparative comfort 

 and the patient cook prepared his meals without frosting 

 his fingers while handling the metal equipment of his out- 

 fit. During these days we sighed with regret for our 

 snow-shoes which, to reduce our constant weight, had been 

 left behind at Cape Britannia. 



When the hour for camping arrived, we selected the 

 deepest snow we could find, usually a heavy drift in the lee 

 of a floe-berg or other sheltered place, and here the tent 

 was pitched. A rubber cloth was spread for the floor of 

 the tent and on this the sleeping-bags were laid. The double 

 bag occupied by Lockwood and myself was placed on one 

 side of the tent and Frederik's single bag on the other. 

 Frederik in the meantime was chopping the pemmican for 

 the dogs while one of us stood, whip in hand, to guard him 

 from the ravenous brutes. When the food had been broken 

 into small pieces it was scattered on the ground and the 

 dogs came on with a rush — each snarling, grabbing and 

 gobbling with all his might, and in the frenzy of his greedi- 

 ness bolting pieces whole. In the twinkling of an eye the 

 feast disappeared and then Ritenbenk, provoked because he 

 had not secured sufficient to gratify his hunger, would 

 usually exercise his prerogative as ruler, and shake two or 

 three of the other dogs by way of expressing his disgust. 

 A few minutes later mournful howls would be heard from 

 the dogs which, having bolted the frozen food, were paying 

 the penalty of their indiscretion. The animals were fed only 

 once each day at the conclusion of the journey, it having 

 been found by experience that dogs work better when they 

 have their meal in anticipation than when they have it in 

 their stomachs. On the outward trip the allowance for each 

 dog was a pound and a quarter of pemmican each day and 

 on the return journey — the load being lighter — one pound 

 was given, and although at the meal hour the animals ap- 

 peared to be nearly famished, the quantity of food was 

 ample, for on our return from this trip, lasting sixty days, 

 the aggregate weight of the team was seven or eight pounds 

 more than when we started. 



While the dogs were being attended to, the cook — who 

 was either Lockwood or myself — would search about for 

 a fresh floe-berg and chop sufficient ice to fill our cooking 



