on in which trended the old
hard winter sastrugi, channelled out along a line running almost north
and south. The newly fallen snow obliterated these, and frequent halts
had to be called in order to investigate the buried surface.

At 2 A.M. on the 17th we had only covered eleven miles when we stopped
to camp. Then Mertz shot and cut up Johnson while I prepared the supper.

Johnson had always been a very faithful, hard-working and willing beast,
with rather droll ways of his own, and we were sorry that his end should
come so soon. He could never be accused of being a handsome dog, in fact
he was generally disreputable and dirty.

All the dogs were miserable and thin when they reached the stage of
extreme exhaustion. Their meat was tough, stringy and without a vestige
of fat. For a change we sometimes chopped it up finely, mixed it with a
little pemmican, and brought all to the boil in a large pot of water. We
were exceedingly hungry, but there was nothing to satisfy our appetites.
Only a few ounces were used of the stock of ordinary food, to which was
added a portion of dog's meat, never large, for each animal yielded
so very little, and the major part was fed to the surviving dogs. They
crunched the bones and ate the skin, until nothing remained.

A fresh start was made at 7.30 P.M. and a wretched, trying night was
spent, when we marched without a break for twelve and a half hours.
Overhead there was a dense pall of nimbus from which snow fell at
intervals. None of the dogs except Ginger gave any help with the load,
and Mary was so worn out that she had to be carried on the sledge. Poor
Mary had been a splendid dog, but we had to kill her at the camp in the
morning.

After a run of eighteen and a half miles we halted at 8 A.M. on December
18.

At 5.30 P.M. a light south-easter blew and snow fell from an overcast
sky. Soon after a start was made, it became apparent that a descent was
commencing. In this locality the country had been swept by wind, for
none of the recent snow settled on the surface. The sastrugi were high
and hard, and over them we bumped, slipping and falling in the uncertain
light. We could not endure this kind of travelling for long and resolved
to camp shortly after midnight, intending to go on when the day had
advanced further and the light was stronger.

"December 19.--Up at noon and tried a few more miles in the snow-glare.
Later in the afternoon the sky began to break and we picked our way