THE POLAR JOURNEY 333 



example of a pretty common phenomenon down here." 

 And the next day : "We saw the party ahead in inverted 

 mirage some distance above their heads." 



In the next three marches we covered our daily 1 3 miles, 

 for the most part without very great difficulty. But poor 

 Jehu was in a bad way, stopping every few hundred yards. 

 It was a funereal business for the leaders of these crock 

 ponies ; and at this stage of the journey Atkinson, Wright 

 and Keohane had many more difficulties than most of us, 

 and the success of their ponies was largely due to their 

 patience and care. Incidentally big icicles formed upon 

 the ponies' noses during the march and Chinaman used 

 Wright's windproof blouse as a handkerchief. During the 

 last of these marches, that is on the morning of Novem- 

 ber 2 1, we saw a massive cairn ahead, and found there the 

 motor party, consisting of Lieutenant Evans, Day, Lashly 

 and Hooper. The cairn was in 8o° 32', and under the 

 name Mount Hooper formed our Upper Barrier Depot. 

 We left there three S (summit) rations, two cases of emer- 

 gency biscuits and two cases of oil, which constituted 

 three weekly food units for the three parties which were to 

 advance from the bottom of the Beardmore Glacier. This 

 food was to take them back from 8o° 32' to One Ton 

 Camp. We all camped for the night 3 miles farther on: 

 sixteen men, five tents, ten ponies, twenty-three dogs and 

 thirteen sledges. 



The man-hauling party had been waiting for six days ; 

 and, having expected us before, were getting anxious about 

 us. They declared that they were very hungry, and Day, 

 who was always long and thin, looked quite gaunt. Some 

 spare biscuits which we gave them from our tent were car- 

 ried off with gratitude. The rest of us who were driving dogs 

 or leading ponies still found our Barrier ration satisfying. 



We had now been out three weeks and had travelled 

 192 miles, and formed a very good idea as to what the 

 ponies could do. The crocks had done wonderfully : — 

 4< We hope Jehu will last three days ; he will then be fin- 

 ished in any case and fed to the dogs. It is amusing to see 

 Meares looking eagerly for the chance of a feed for his 



