404 SCOTT'S LAST KXPKDITION [September 
muscles. They are very different animals from those 
which we took south last year, and with another montli 
of training I feel there is not one of them but will make light 
of the loads we shall ask them to draw. But we cannot spare 
any of the ten, and so there must always be anxiety of the 
disablement of one or more before their work is done, 
E. R. Evans, Fordc, and Gran left early on Saturday 
for Corner Camp. I hope they will have no difficulty in 
finding it. Mcarcs and Demetri came back from Hut 
Point the same afternoon — the dogs are wonderfully fit 
and strong, but Mcarcs reports no seals up in the region, 
and as lie went to make seal pemmican, there was little 
object in his staying. I leave him to come and go as he 
pleases, merely setting out the work he has to do in the 
simplest form. 1 want him to take fourteen bags of 
forage (130 lbs. each) to Corner Camp before the end of 
October and to be ready to start for his supporting work 
soon after the pony party — a light task for his healthy 
teams. Of hopeful signs for the future none arc more 
remarkable than the health and spirit of our people. 
It would be impossible to imagine a more vigorous com- 
munity, and there does not seem to be a single weak spot 
in the twelve good men and true who arc chosen for 
the Southern advance. All are now experienced sledge 
travellers, knit together with a bond of friendship that 
has never been equalled under such circumstances. 
Thanks to these people, and more especially to Bowers 
and Petty Officer Evans, there is not a single detail of 
our equipment which is not arranged with the utmost 
care and in accordance with the tests of experience. 
