PONIES AND MOTOR-CAR 



I decided to take ponies, dogs, and a motor-car to 

 assist in hauling our sledges on the long journeys that 

 I had in view, but my hopes were based mainly on the 

 ponies. Dogs had not proved satisfactory on the 

 Barrier surface, and I did not expect my dogs to do as 

 well as they actually did. The use of a motor-car was 

 an experiment which I thought justified by my experi- 

 ence of the character of the Barrier surface, but I 

 knew that it would not do to place much reliance on the 

 machine in view of the uncertainty of the conditions. 

 I felt confident, however, that the hardy ponies used 

 in Northern China and Manchuria would be useful if 

 they could be landed on the ice in good condition. I 

 had seen these ponies in Shanghai, and I had heard of 

 the good work they did on the Jackson-Harmsworth 

 expedition. They are accustomed to hauling heavy 

 loads in a very low temperature, and they are hardy, 

 sure-footed and plucky. I noticed that they had been 

 used with success for very rough work during the 

 Russo-Japanese War, and a friend who had lived in 

 Siberia gave me some more information regarding their 

 capabilities. 



I therefore got into communication with the London 

 manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (Mr. 

 C. S. Addis), and he was able to secure the services of 

 a leading firm of veterinary surgeons in Shanghai. A 

 qualified man went to Tientsin on my behalf, and from 

 a mob of about two thousand of the ponies, brought 

 down for sale from the northern regions, he selected 

 fifteen of the little animals for my expedition. The 

 ponies chosen were all over twelve and under seven- 

 teen years in age, and had spent the early part of 

 their lives in the interior of Manchuria. They were 

 practically unbroken, were about fourteen hands high, 

 and were of various colours. They were all splendidly 



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