THE LAST WINTER 455 



was not one of our company who did not welcome the re- 

 turn of the sun with thankfulness: all the more so since he 

 came back to a land of blizzards and made many of our 

 difficulties more easy to tackle. Those who got little out- 

 side exercise were more affected by the darkness than 

 others. This last year, of course, the difficulties of getting 

 sufficient outdoor exercise were much increased. Variety 

 is important to the man who travels in polar regions : at 

 all events those who went away on sledging expeditions 

 stood the life more successfully than those whose duties 

 tied them to the neighbourhood of the hut. 



Other things being equal, the men with the greatest 

 store of nervous energy came best through this expedition. 

 Having more imagination, they have a worse time than 

 their more phlegmatic companions ; but they get things 

 done. And when the worst came to the worst, their 

 strength of mind triumphed over their weakness of body. 

 If you want a good polar traveller get a man without too 

 much muscle, with good physical tone, and let his mind be 

 on wires — of steel. And if you can't get both, sacrifice 

 physique and bank on will. 



NOTE 



A lecture given at this time by Wright on Barrier Sur- 

 faces is especially interesting with relation to the Winter 

 Journey and the tragedy of the Polar Party. The general 

 tend of friction set up by a sledge-runner upon snow of 

 ordinary temperature may be called true sliding friction : 

 it is probable that the runners melt to an infinitesimal 

 degree the millions of crystal points over which they glide : 

 the sledge is running upon water. Crystals in such tem- 

 peratures are larger and softer than those encountered in 

 low temperatures. It is now that halos may be seen in the 

 snow, almost reaching to your feet as you pull, and mov- 

 ing forward with you : we steered sometimes by keeping 

 these halos at a certain angle to us. My experience is 

 that the best pulling surface is at an air temperature of 

 about + 1 7 Fahr. : Wright's experience is that below + 5 



