THE DEPOT JOURNEY 133 
sonality, hard, and evidently inured to hardship, good goers 
and pleasant and good-humoured. All these qualities com- 
bine to make them very dangerous rivals, but even did one 
want not to, one cannot help liking them individually in 
spite of the rivalry. 
“One thing I have particularly noticed is the. way in 
which they are refraining from getting information from 
us which might be useful to them. We have news which 
will make the Western Party as uneasy as ourselves and the 
world will watch with interest a race for the Pole next year, 
a race which may go any way, and may be decided by luck 
or by dogged energy and perseverance on either side. 
“The Norwegians are in dangerous winter quarters, for 
the ice is breaking out rapidly from the Bay of Whales 
which they believe to be Borchgrevink’s Bight, and they 
are camped directly in front of a distinct line of weakness. 
On the other hand if they get through the winter safely 
(and they are aware of their danger), they have unlimited 
dogs, the energy of a nation as northern as ourselves, and 
experience with snow-travelling that could be beaten by no 
collection of men in the world. 
“There remains the Beardmore Glacier. Can their 
dogs face it, and if so, who will get there first. One thing I 
feel and that is that our Southern Party will go far before 
they permit themselves to be beaten by any one, and I 
think that two parties are very likely to reach the Pole next 
year, but God only knows which will get there first. 
“A few of the things we learnt about the Norwegians 
are as follows: 
“The engines of the Fram occupy only half the size of 
our wardroom, the petrol tanks have not needed replenish- 
ment since they left Norway, and their propeller can be 
lifted bythreemen. ‘They kept fresh potatoes from Norway 
to the Barrier. (Some of them must surely be renegade 
Irishmen.) ‘They have each a separate cabin ’tween-decks 
in the Fram, and are very comfortable. They are using for 
transporting their stores to the hut, eight teams of five 
dogs each, working every alternate day. 
“They intend to use for the Polar Journey teams of 
