SOUTH 
him. We took him out of his harness and let him travel along 
with us, but he has given us all he can, and now can only lay 
down. After Nigger, my friend Pompey collapsed. The drift, 
I thmk, accounts a good deal for this. Pompey has been 
splendid of late, pulling steadily and well. Then Scotty, the 
last dog but one, gave up. They are all lying down in our 
tracks. They have a painless death, for they curl up in the 
snow and fall into a sleep from which they will never wake. 
We are left with one dog, Pinkey. He has not been one of the 
pullers, but he is not despised. We can afford to give him 
plenty of biscuit. We must nurse him and see if we cannot 
return with one dog at least. We are now pulling ourselves, 
with the sail (the floor-cloth of the tent) set and Pinkey giving 
a hand. At one stage a terrific gust came along and capsized 
the sledge. The sail was blown off the sledge, out of its guys, 
and we prepared to camp, but the wnd fell again to a moderate 
breeze, so we repaired the sledge and proceeded. 
"It is blowing hard this evening, cold too. Another 
wonderful smiset. Golden colours illuminate the sky. The 
moon casts beautiful rays in combination with the more vivid 
ones from the dipping sun. If all was as beautiful as the scene 
we could consider ourselves in some paradise, but it is dark 
and cold in the tent and I shiver in a frozen sleeping-bag. The 
inside fur is a mass of ice, congealed from my breath. One 
creeps into the bag, toggles up with half-frozen fingers, and 
hears the crackling of the ice. Presently drops of thawing ice 
are falling on one's head. Then comes a fit of shivers. You 
rub yourself and turn over to warm the side of the bag which 
has been uppermost. A puddle of water forms under the 
body. After about two hours you may doze off, but I always 
wake with the feeling that I have not slept a wink." 
The party made only three and a half miles on March 3. 
They were finding the sledge exceedingly heavy to pull, and 
Mackintosh decided to remove the outer runners and scrape 
the bottom. These runners should have been taken off before 
the party started, and the lower runners polished smooth. He 
also left behind all spare gear, including dog-harness, in order 
to reduce weight, and found the lighter sledge easier to null 
254 1 . 
