THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



the ship may be expected to reach that point, and 

 weight is therefore of less importance. My aim was to 

 secure a large variety of foods for use during the winter 

 night. The long months of darkness impose a severe 

 strain on any men unaccustomed to the conditions, 

 and it is desirable to relieve the monotony in every way 

 possible. A variety of food is healthful, moreover, and 

 this is especially important at a period when it is difficult 

 for the men to take much exercise, and when sometimes 

 they are practically confined to the hut for days together 

 by bad weather. 



All these points were taken into consideration in the 

 selection of our food-stuffs, and the list that I append 

 shows the more important items of our provisions. 

 I based my estimates on the requirements of twelve men 

 for two years, but this was added to in New Zealand 

 when I increased the staff. Some important articles 

 of food were presented to the expedition by the manu- 

 facturers, and others, such as the biscuits and pemmican, 

 were specially manufactured to my order. The ques- 

 tion of packing presented some difficulties, and I finally 

 decided to use 4 4 Veriest a" cases for the food-stuffs 

 and as much as possible of the equipment. These 

 cases are manufactured from composite boards pre- 

 pared by uniting three layers of birch or other 

 hard wood with waterproof cement. They are light, 

 weather-proof and strong, and proved to be eminently 

 suited to our purposes. The cases I ordered measured 

 about two feet six inches by fifteen inches, and we used 

 about 2500 of them. The saving of weight, as compared 

 with an ordinary packing-case, was about four pounds 

 per case, and we had no trouble at all with breakages, 

 in spite of the rough handling given our stores in the 

 process of landing at Cape Royds after the expedition 

 had reached the Antarctic regions. 



8 



