s in connection with the Ubdugs I am
prepared to settle out of port in the long bar at Shanghai.) Quoting from
the "South Polar Times": "'The Ubdug Burrow' is festooned with kodaks,
candles and curtains; they (the Ubdugs) are united by an intense love of
the science of autobiography, their somewhat ambiguous motto is 'the pen
is mightier than the sword, but the tongue licks them both!'" Griffith
Taylor and Debenham were both Australians: the former was probably the
wittiest man in the Expedition, and, in my opinion, the cleverest
contributor to the "South Polar Times," excepting of course the artistic
side. The "South Polar Times" was our winter magazine, beautifully
illustrated by Wilson's water colours and Ponting's photographs. Taylor's
motto was "Advance, Australia!"--most certainly he helped it to. People
were always welcome in the Ubduggery, where they seemed to have an
unlimited supply of cigarettes and good novels.

Debenham was certainly nurse to the Ubdugs, that is to say he was the
least untidy, but then of course he was the smallest. In this cubicle the
most voluminous of diaries were kept, and at least two books have been
published therefrom. Gran kept his diary mostly in Norwegian, but there
were many words coined in our Expedition which had no Scandinavian
equivalent, and Gran failed to translate them, in spite of his having
more imagination than any one amongst us.

Crossing over the hut to the cubicle opposite one arrives at the somewhat
congested space in which Cherry-Garrard was housed, with Bowers above
him. In their corner were store lists, books, and mystery bags which
contained material for the "South Polar Times," toys and frivolous
presents to liven us up at the midwinter and other festivities. Bowers
and Cherry-Garrard were, in a way, worse off than the others, for they
had the darkest part of the hut, yet in this gloomy tenement all kinds of
calculations were made and much other good work done.

Oates came next, with his bunk more free of debris than anybody else's,
for he was the horse man, pure and simple, and his duties freed him from
that superabundance of books, instruments, stationery, specimens, charts,
and what-not with which we others had surrounded ourselves. Any spare
gear he kept in the saddle room, a specially cleared space in the
stables, where he was assisted by the little Russian groom, Anton, who
soon became devoted to his hard-working and capable master. The two men,
so unl