THE POLAR JOURNEY 507 



'''''January 18. Sights were taken in the night, and at 

 about 5 a.m. we turned out and marched from this night 

 camp about 3§ miles back in a S.E.ly direction to a spot 

 which we judged from last night's sights to be the Pole. 

 Here we lunched camp : built a cairn : took photos : flew 

 the Queen Mother's Union Jack and all our own flags. 

 We call this the Pole, though as a matter of fact we went 

 \ mile farther on in a S. easterly direction after taking 

 further sights to the actual final spot, and here we left the 

 Union Jack flying. During the forenoon we passed the 

 Norwegians' last southerly camp : they called it Polheim 

 and left here a small tent with Norwegian and Fram flags 

 flying, and a considerable amount of gear in the tent : half 

 reindeer sleeping-bags, sleeping-socks, reinskin trousers 

 2 pair, a sextant, and artificial] horizon, a hypsometer 

 with all the thermoms broken, etc. I took away the spirit- 

 lamp of it, which I have wanted for sterilizing and making 

 disinfectant lotions of snow. There were also letters there : 

 one from Amundsen to King Haakon, with a request that 

 Scott should send it to him. There was also a list of the 

 five men who made up their party, but no news as to what 

 they had done. I made some sketches here, but it was 

 blowing very cold, - 2 2°. Birdie took some photos. We 

 found no sledge there though they said there was one : it 

 may have been buried in drift. The tent was a funny little 

 thing for 2 men, pegged out with white line and tent-pegs 

 of yellow wood. I took some strips of blue-grey silk off the 

 tent seams : it was perished. The Norskies had got to the 

 Pole on December 16, and were here from 15th to 17th. 

 At our lunch South Pole Camp we saw a sledge-runner 

 with a black flag about \ mile away blowing from it. Scott 

 sent me on ski to fetch it, and I found a note tied to it 

 showing that this was the Norskies' actual final Pole posi- 

 tion. I was given the flag and the note with Amundsen's 

 signature, and I got a piece of the sledge-runner as well. 

 The small chart of our wanderings shows best how all these 

 things lie. After lunch we made 6.2 miles from the Pole 

 Camp to the north again, and here we are camped for the 



o * x Wilson. 



