xyu] PONIES GO WELL 459 
Six hundred yards from this camp there was a bale of 
forage. Bovvers stopped and loaded it on his sledge, 
bringing his weights to nearly 800 lbs. His pony Victor 
stepped out again as though nothing had been added. 
Such incidents are very inspiriting. Of course, the surface 
is very good ; the animals rarely sink to the fetlock joint, 
and for a good part of the time are borne up on hard snow 
patches without sinking at all. In passing I mention that 
there are practically no places where ponies sink to their 
hocks as described by Shackleton. On the only occasion 
last year when our ponies sank to their hocks in one soft 
patch, they were unable to get their loads on at all. The 
feathering of the fetlock joint is borne up on the snow 
crust and its upward bend is indicative of the depth of 
the hole made by the hoof ; one sees that an extra inch 
makes a tremendous difference. 
We are picking up last year's cairns with great ease, 
and all show up very distinctly. This is extremely satis- 
factory for the homeward march. What with pony 
walls, camp sites and cairns, our track should be easily 
followed the whole way. Everyone is as fit as can be. 
It was wonderfully warm as we camped this morning at 
1 1 o'clock ; the wind has dropped completely and the 
sun shines gloriously. Men and ponies revel in such 
weather. One devoutly hopes for a good spell of it as 
we recede from the windy northern region. The dogs 
came up soon after we had camped, travelling easily. 
Thursday, November 9. — Camp 6. Sticking to pro- 
gramme, we are going a little over the 10 miles (gco.) 
nightly. Atkinson started his party at 11 and went on 
