THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



accomplish such a feat on the Antarctic Barrier surface, 

 where the travelling alternates between hard sastrugi 

 and soft snow. We were agreeably surprised with 

 the dogs, for it must be remembered that their fore- 

 bears had not lived under polar conditions since 1899 

 and that none of the animals had experienced Arctic 

 weather nor were they trained for the work they had 

 to perform on the ice. Scamp, indeed, had been a 

 sheep-dog, and when out for a walk with the other 

 animals it was interesting to watch how he retained the 

 habits learnt in civilisation. He was always " rounding 

 up " the other dogs, and I think that they enjoyed their 

 walks much more when Scamp was absent. 



I have described our first attempt to make the motor- 

 car go on the sea ice. After that we made similar 

 experiments ashore, and there was no difficulty in start- 

 ing the engine at a temperature of ten degrees below 

 zero, but the driving-wheels were a great source of 

 trouble, and the weight of the car itself made it almost 

 impossible to travel over the snow; the heavy rear 

 wheels sank into even the hardest snow and then spun 

 round in the hole they had made for themselves. The 

 car went splendidly on the bare earth, even up the steep 

 gradient of Pony Glen, and we decided that when the 

 spring came we would try an alteration of the wheels. 

 If the car had only been able to travel over the Barrier 

 surface all our difficulties would have been solved, 

 for a hundred miles a day would not have been too much 

 to have expected of it. 



