anions, had both
served through the South African War, and had many delightful stories to
tell of their experiences in this campaign; their anecdotes are not all
printable, but no matter. Of Oates it is correct to say that he was more
popular with the seamen than any other officer. He understood these men
perfectly and could get any amount of work out of them, this was a great
advantage, because he only had his Russian groom permanently to assist
him, and he generally used volunteer labour after working hours to carry
out his operations. In the two lectures he gave us on "The Care and
Management of Horses," to which reference has been made, Oates showed how
much time and thought he had devoted to his charges, and to the
forthcoming pony-sledge work over the Great Ice Barrier.

During the latter half of the winter Oates and I saw a good deal of one
another, as we daily exercised our ponies on the sea ice when Wilson's
party was away and afterwards also till the weather was light enough for
me to continue surveying. Oates led two ponies out generally--
Christopher, the troublesome, and Jehu, the indolent while the care of
the rogue pony, Chinaman, devolved on myself. When the ponies went well,
which was usually the case, when they did not suffer from the weather, we
used to have long yarns about our respective services and mutual friends.
Oates would often discuss the forthcoming southern journey, and his
ambition was to reach the top of the Beardmore Glacier; he did not expect
to be selected for the southern party, which was planned to contain four
men only--two of these must have special knowledge of navigation, to
check one another's observations--the third would be a doctor, and it was
expected that a seaman would be chosen for the fourth. So Oates was
convinced that he had no chance, never for a moment appreciating his own
sterling qualities.

By the spring the ponies were all ready to start their serious training
for the southern journey, and the proper leaders now took charge to daily
exercise their animals in harness. The older sledges were used with dummy
loads, varying in weight according to the condition and strength of the
pony. So well in fact and so carefully did Oates tend his charges, that
by the time they were required for the southern journey only Jehu caused
him any anxiety, even so this beast managed to haul a reasonable load for
a distance of nearly 280 miles.

As to the dogs, the list was as follow