SOUTH 
feel that we could eat twice as much as we get. An average 
day's food at present consists of ^ lb. of seal with | pint of 
tea for breakfast, a 4-oz. bannock with milk for lunch, and 
f pint of seal stew for supper. That is barely enough, even 
doing very little work as we are, for of course we are completely 
destitute of bread or potatoes or anything of that sort. Some 
seem to feel it more than others and are continually talking of 
food ; but most of us find that the continual conversation about 
food only whets an appetite that cannot be satisfied. Our 
craving for bread and butter is very real, not because we cannot 
get it, but because the system feels the need of it." 
Owing to this shortage of food and the fact that we needed 
all that we could get for ourselves, I had to order all the dogs 
except tM^o teams to be shot. It was the worst job that we 
had had throughout the Expedition, and we felt their loss 
keenly. 
I had to be continually rearranging the weekly menu. The 
possible number of permutations of seal meat were decidedly 
limited. The fact that the men did not know what was coming 
gave them a sort of mental speculation, and the slightest 
variation was of great value. 
We caught an adelie to-day (January 26) and another 
whale was seen at close quarters, but no seals. 
" We are now very short of blubber, and in consequence 
one stove has to be shut down. We only get one hot beverage 
a day, the tea at breakfast. For the rest we have iced water. 
Sometimes we are short even of this, so we take a few chips 
of ice in a tobacco-tin to bed with us. In the morning there is 
about a spoonful of water in the tin, and one has to lie very 
still all night so as not to spill it." 
To provide some variety in the food, I commenced to use 
the sledging ration at half strength twice a week. 
The ice between us and Ocean Camp, now only about five 
miles away and actually to the south-west of us, was very 
broken, but I decided to send Macklin and Hurley back with 
their dogs to see if there was any more food that could be 
added to our scanty stock. I gave them written instructions 
to take no undue risk or cross any wide-open leads, and said 
108 
