i 5 6 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [February 
course is to pick a way with the sure-footed beasts and 
keep the others back till the road has been tested. 
What extraordinary uncertainties this work exhibits ! 
Every day some new fact comes to light — some new 
obstacle which threatens the gravest obstruction. I 
suppose this is the reason which makes the game so well 
worth playing. 
Impressions 
The more I think of our sledging outfit the more certain 
I am that we have arrived at something near a perfect 
equipment for civilised man under such conditions. 
The border line between necessity and luxury is vague 
enough. 
We might save weight at the expense of comfort, but 
all possible saving would amount to but a mere fraction of 
one's loads. Supposing it were a grim struggle for existence 
and we were forced to drop everything but the barest 
necessities, the total saving on this three weeks' journey 
would be : lbs 
Fuel for cooking .... 100 
Cooking apparatus . 45 
Personal clothing, &c, say . . 100 
Tent, say ..... 30 
Instruments, Sec. .... 100 
375 
This is half of one of ten sledge-loads, or about one- 
twentieth of the total weight carried. If this is the only 
part of our weights which under any conceivable circum- 
stances could be included in the category of luxuries, it 
