THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



to the Magnetic Pole and back we dragged a weight at 

 first, of 670 lb., but this finally became reduced to about 

 450 lb., owing to consumption of food and oil, by the time 

 that we returned to our depot. 



We were absent on our sledge journey for one 

 hundred and twenty-two days, of which five days were 

 spent in our tent during heavy blizzards, and five days 

 partly in experimenting in cooking with blubber and 

 partly in preparing supplies of seal meat for the journey 

 from the sea ice over the high plateau, and three days 

 in addition were taken up in reconnoitring, taking 

 magnetic observations, &c. We therefore covered this 

 distance of 1260 miles in 109 travelling days, an average 

 of about eleven and a half miles a day. 



We had laid two depots before our final start, but 

 as these were distant only ten miles and fifteen miles 

 respectively, from our winter quarters they did not 

 materially help us. We had no supporting-party, and 

 with the exception of help from the motor-car in laying 

 out these short depots we pulled the sledges for the 

 whole distance without assistance except, on rare 

 occasions, from the wind. 



The travelling over the sea ice was at first pretty 

 good, but from Cape Bernacchi to the Nordenskjold 

 Ice Barrier we were much hampered by screwed pack- 

 ice with accompanying high and hard snow ridges. 

 Towards the latter part of October and during Novem- 

 ber and part of December the thawing surface of saline 

 snow, clogging and otherwise impeding our runners, 

 made the work of sledging extremely laborious. More- 

 over, on the sea ice — especially towards the last part 

 of our journey over it — ^we had ever present the risk 

 of a blizzard breaking the ice up suddenly all around us, 

 and drifting us out to sea. There can be no doubt, 



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