THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



brief and infrequent. It was on the march back that 

 we talked freely of food, after we had got down the 

 glacier and were marching over the barrier surface. 

 The wind was behind us, so that the pulling was not 

 very heavy, and as there were no crevasses to fear we 

 were able to keep close together. We would get up at 

 5 A.M. in order to make a start at 7 a.m., and after we 

 had eaten our scanty breakfast, that seemed only to 

 accentuate hunger, and had begun the day's march, 

 we could take turns in describing the things we would 

 eat in the good days to come. We were each going 

 to give a dinner to the others in turn, and there was 

 to be an anniversary dinner every year, at which we 

 would be able to eat and eat and eat. No French chef 

 ever devoted more thought to the invention of new 

 dishes than we did. 



It is with strange feehngs that I look back over our 

 notes, and see the wonderful meals that we were going 

 to have. We used to tell each other, with perfect 

 seriousness, about the new dishes that we had thought 

 of, and if the dish met with general approval there 

 would be a chorus of, "Ah! That's good." Sometimes 

 there would be an argument as to whether a suggested 

 dish was really an original invention, or whether it did 

 not too nearly resemble something that we had already 

 tasted in happier days. The " Wild roll " was admitted 

 to be the high-water mark of gastronomic luxury. 

 Wild proposed that the cook should take a supply of 

 well-seasoned minced meat, wrap it in nashe^rs of fat 

 bacon, and place around the whole an outer covering 

 of rich pastry, so that it would take the form of a big 

 sausage-roll. Then this roll would be fried with plenty 

 of fat. My best dish, which I must admit I put forward 

 with a good deal of pride as we marched over the snow, 

 was a sardine pasty, made by placing well-fried sardines 



6 



