THE SOUTHERN PARTY 



order that we might start fairly fresh from a point beyond 

 the rough ice off Minna Bluff, and we would take the 

 four ponies and four sledges. It was with some regret 

 that I decided that the motor-car would have to stay 

 behind. The trials that we had made in the neighbour- 

 hood of the winter quarters had proved that the car 

 could not travel over a soft snow surface, and the depot 

 journey had shown me that the surface of the Barrier 

 was covered with soft snow, much softer and heavier 

 than it had been in 1902, at the time of the Discovery 

 expedition. In fact I was satisfied that, with the 

 Barrier in its then condition, no wheeled vehicle could 

 travel over it. The wheels would simply sink in until 

 the body of the car rested on the snowy surface. We 

 had made alterations in the wheels and we had reduced 

 the weight of the car to an absolute minimum by the 

 removal of every unnecessary part, but still it could 

 do little on a soft surface, and it would certainly be 

 quite useless with any weight behind, for the driving 

 wheels would simply scoop holes for themselves. The 

 use of sledge-runners under the front wheels, with broad, 

 spiked driving-wheels, might have enabled us to get 

 the car over some of the soft surfaces, but this equip- 

 ment would not have been satisfactory on hard, rough 

 ice, and constant changes would occupy too much time. 

 I had confidence in the ponies, and I thought it best not 

 to attempt to take the car south from the winter 

 quarters. 



The provisioning of the Southern Party was a matter 

 that received long and anxious consideration. Marshall 

 went very carefully into the question of the relative 

 food-values of the various supplies, and we were able 

 to derive much useful information from the experience 

 of previous expeditions. We decided on a daily ration 

 of 34 oz. per man ; the total weight of food to be carried, 



245 



