SOUTII 
load while we shout to the dogs to start. If they do not pull 
together it is useless. Wlien we get the sledge going we are 
on tenter-hooks lest it stop a.gain on the next soft slope, and 
this often occurs. Sledging is real hard work ; but we are 
getting along." 
The surface was better on February 2, and the party covered 
six miles without relaying. They camped in soft snow, and 
when they started the next day they were two hours relaying 
over one hundred and fifty yards. Then they got into Joyce's 
track and found the going better. Mackintosh overtook Joyce 
on the morning of February 4 and went ahead, his party breaking 
trail during the next march. They covered ten miles on the 
night of the 4th. One dog had chucked his hand in " on 
the march, and Mackintosh mentions that he intended to in- 
crease the dogs' allowance of food. The surface was harder, and 
during the nigh t of February 5 Mackintosh covered eleven miles 
twenty-five yards, but he finished with two dogs on the sledge. 
Joyce was travelling by day, so that the parties passed one 
another daily on the march. 
A blizzard came from the south on February 10 and the 
parties were confined to their tents for over twenty-four hours. 
The weather moderated on the morning of the next day, and 
at 11 a.m. Mackintosh camped beside Joyce and proceeded to 
rearrange the parties. One of his dogs had died on the Oth, 
and several others had ceased to be worth much for pulling. 
He had decided to take the best dogs from the two teams and 
continue the march with Joyce and Wild, while Smith, Jack, 
and Gaze went back to Hut Point with the remaining dogs. 
This involved the adjustment of sledge-loads in order that 
the proper supplies might be available for the depots. He had 
eight dogs and Smith had five. A depot of oil and fuel was 
laid at this point and marked by a cairn with a bamboo pole 
rising ten feet above it. The change made for better progress. 
Smith turned back at once, and the other party went ahead 
fairly rapidly, the dogs being able to haul the sledge without 
much assistance from the men. The party built a cairn of 
snow after each hour's travelling to serve as guides to the 
depot and as marks for the return journey. Another blizzard 
250 
