HANDLING OF THE CORRESPONDENCE 



the number of the shore-party, to add to the stores and 

 equipment in certain directions and to strengthen the ship 

 still further, which I could not afford to do earlier. The 

 New Zealand Government also agreed to pay half the 

 cost of towing the Nimrod down to the Antarctic Circle, 

 so that coal might be saved for the heavy work amongst 

 the ice, and in many other ways assisted us. The Post- 

 master-General of the Dominion had printed off for me 

 a small issue of special stamps, and constituted me a 

 postmaster for the period of my stay in the Antarctic, an 

 arrangement that much simplified the handling of the 

 correspondence sent back from the winter quarters with 

 the Nimrod. 



The ponies were enjoying their holiday on Quail 

 Island and were becoming sleek and fat, and it was 

 necessary that they should be broken to handling and 

 sledge-hauling. Mr. C. Tubman undertook this work, 

 with the assistance of Dr. Mackay, and there were some 

 exciting moments on the island. The ponies were 

 very wild, and more than once Mackay and Tubman had 

 to make a rapid retreat from the animal they were 

 schooling at the time. The white ponies, which later 

 proved the most hardy, were the least tractable, and 

 there was one white pony in particular that was left 

 behind, because, though a splendid specimen physically, 

 it could not be brought to a reasonable state of docility 

 in the time at our disposal. I intended to take only 

 ten ponies out of the fifteen, having allowed a margin 

 for losses on the voyage to New Zealand, and Tubman 

 and Mackay devoted their attention to the most 

 promising animals. All the ponies had names, although 

 I do not know from whom they received them, and we 

 finally left New Zealand with " Socks," " Quan," 

 "Grisi," "Chinaman," "Billy," "Zulu," "Doctor," 

 " Sandy," " Nimrod," and " Mac." 



35 



