474 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



at the edge of the Barrier, and had to be hauled out with a 

 rope. The mules are going fast over the first part of the 

 day, but show a tendency to stop towards the end: they 

 keep well together except Khan Sahib, who is a slower mule 

 than the others. It is now blowing with some drift, but 

 nothing bad, and beyond the Bluff it seems to be clear. 

 We are all pretty tired. 



November 4. - Early morning. Well ! this has been a dis- 

 appointing day, but we must hope that all will turn out 

 well. We turned out at 2 a.m. yesterday and then it was 

 clearing all round, a mild blizzard having been blowing 

 since we camped. We started at five in some wind and low 

 drift. It was good travelling weather, and except for the 

 first three miles the surface has been fair to good, and the 

 last part very good. Yet the dogs could not manage their 

 load, which according to programme should go up a 

 further 150 lbs. each team here at Dimitri Depot. One of 

 our dogs, Kusoi, gave out, but we managed to get him 

 along tied to the stern of the sledge, because the team 

 behind tried to get at him and he realized he had better 

 mend his ways. We camped for lunch when Tresor also 

 was pretty well done. We were then on a very good sur- 

 face, but were often pushing the sledge to get it along. 

 The mule party were gone when we started again, and 

 probably did not see us. We came on to the depot, but we 

 cannot hope to get along far on bad surfaces if we cannot 

 get along on good ones. The note left by Wright states 

 that their sledge-meter has proved useless, and this leaves 

 all three parties of us with only one, which is not very 

 reliable now. 



So it has been decided that the dogs must return from 

 8o° 30', or 8 i° at the farthest, and instead of four mules, as 

 was intended, going on from there, five must go on instead. 

 The dogs can therefore now leave behind much of their 

 own weights and take on the mules' weights instead. And 

 this is the part where the mules' weights are so heavy. 

 Perhaps the new scheme is the best, but it puts everything 

 on the mules from 8o° 30' : if they will do it all is well: if 

 they won't we have nothing to fall back on. 



