NEVER AGAIN 547 



that Scott could not have travelled from McMurdo Sound 

 to the Pole faster than he did except with dogs ; all the 

 king's horses and all the king's men could not have done 

 it. Why, then, says the practical man, did we go to 

 McMurdo Sound instead of to the Bay of Whales ? Be- 

 cause we gained that continuity of scientific observation 

 which is so important in this work : and because the 

 Sound was the starting-point for continuing the explora- 

 tion of the only ascertained route to the Pole, via the 

 Beardmore Glacier. 



I am afraid it was all inevitable: we were as wise as 

 any one can be before the event. I admit that we, scrupu- 

 lously economical of our pemmican, were terribly prodigal 

 of our man-power. But we had to be: the draft, whatever 

 it may have been on the whole, was not excessive at any 

 given point; and anyhow we just had to use every man 

 to take every opportunity. There is so much to do, and 

 the opportunities for doing it are so rare. Generally speak- 

 ing, I don't see how we could have done differently, but 

 I don't want to see it done again; I don't want it to be 

 necessary to do it again. I want to see this country tackle 

 the job, and send enough men to do one thing at a time. 

 They do it in Canada : why not in England too ? 



But we wasted our man-power in one way which could 

 have been avoided. I have described how every emergency 

 was met by calling for volunteers, and how the volunteers 

 were always forthcoming. Unfortunately volunteering was 

 relied on not only for emergencies, but for a good deal of 

 everyday work that should have been organised as routine; 

 and the inevitable result was that the willing horses were 

 overworked. It was a point of honour not to ca' canny. 

 Men were allowed to do too much, and were told after- 

 wards that they had done too much; and that is not dis- 

 cipline. They should not have been allowed to do too 

 much. Until our last year we never insisted on a regular 

 routine. 



Money was scarce: probably Scott could not have ob- 

 tained the funds for the expedition if its objective had not 

 been the Pole. There was no lack of the things which 



