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 satisfactory 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 11 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 programme, we are going a
little over the 10 miles (geo.) nightly. Atkinson started his party at
11 and went on for 7 miles to escape a cold little night breeze which
quickly dropped. He was some time at his lunch camp, so that starting
to join the rearguard we came in together the last 2 miles. The
experience showed that the slow advance guard ponies are forced out
of their place by joining with the others, whilst the fast rearguard
is reduced in speed. Obviously it is not an advantage to be together,
yet all the ponies are doing well. An amusing incident happened when
Wright left his pony to examine his sledgemeter. Chinaman evidently
didn't like being left behind and set off at a canter to rejoin the
main body. Wright's long legs barely carried him fast enough to stop
this fatal stampede, but the ridiculous sight was due to the fact
that old Jehu caught the infection and set off at a sprawling canter
in Chinaman's wake. As this is the pony we thought scarcely capable
of a single march at start, one is agreeably surprised to find him
still displaying such commendable spirit. Christopher is troublesome
as ever at the start; I fear t