THE HEART OP THE ANTARCTIC 



pulled the sledge. We passed over three undulations, 

 and camped at 1 p.m. In the afternoon we only did 

 four miles, Quan being led by Wild. He also led Socks 

 with one sledge, whilst Adams, Marshall and I hauled 

 200 lb. each on the other sledge over a terribly soft 

 surface. Poor old Quan was quite finished when we 

 came to camp at 6 p.m., having done 12 miles 200 yards, 

 so he was shot. We all felt losing him, I particularly, 

 for he was my special horse ever since he was ill last 

 March. I had looked after him, and in spite of all his 

 annoying tricks he was a general favourite. He seemed 

 so intelligent. Still it was best for him to go, and like 

 the others he was well fed to the last. We have now 

 only one pony left, and are in latitude 83° 16' South. 

 Ahead of us we can see the land stretching away to the 

 east, with a long white line in front of it that looks like 

 a giant Barrier, and nearer a very crusted-up appear- 

 ance, as though there were great pressure ridges in front 

 of us. It seems as though the Barrier end had come, 

 and that there is now going to be a change in some 

 gigantic way in keeping with the vastness of the whole 

 place. We fervently trust that we will not be delayed 

 in our march south. We are living mainly on horse- 

 meat now, and on the march, to cool our throats when 

 pulling in the hot sun, we chew some raw frozen meat. 

 There was a slight breeze for a time to-day, and we felt 

 chilly, as we were pulling stripped to our shirts. We 

 wear our goggles all the time, for the glare from the 

 snow surface is intense and the sky is cloudless. A 

 few wisps of fleecy cloud settle on the tops of the loftiest 

 mountains, but that is all. The surface of the Barrier 

 still sparkles with the million frozen crystals which stand 

 apart from the ordinary surface snow. One or two 

 new peaks came in sight to-day, so we are ever adding 

 to the chain of wonderful mountains that we have found. 



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