to see, and finding tracks or
steering is a constant strain. We are certainly lucky to have been able
to march as we have.

_Note on Mules._--The most ardent admirer of mules could not say that
they were a success. The question is whether they might be made so. There
was really only one thing against them but that is a very important
one--they would not eat on the Barrier. From the time they went away to
the day they returned (those that did return, poor things) they starved
themselves, and yet they pulled biggish loads for 30 days.

If they would have eaten they would have been a huge success. They
travelled faster than the ponies and, with one exception, kept together
better than the ponies. If both were eating their ration it is
questionable whether a good mule or a good pony is to be preferred. Our
mules were of the best, and they were beautifully trained and equipped by
the Indian Government: yet on November 13, a fortnight from the start,
Wright records, "mules are a poor substitute for ponies. Not many will
see Hut Point again, I think. Doubt if any would have got much farther
than this if surfaces had been as bad this year as last."[292]

Though they would not eat oats, compressed fodder and oil-cake, they were
quite willing to eat all kinds of other things. If we could have arrived
at the mule equivalent to a vegetarian diet they might have pulled to the
Beardmore without stopping. The nearest to this diet at which we could
arrive was saennegrass, tea-leaves, tobacco ash and rope--all of which
were eaten with gusto. But supplies were very limited. They ate
dog-biscuit as long as they thought we were not looking--but as soon as
they realized they were meant to eat it they went on hunger-strike again.
But during halts at cairns Rani and Pyaree would stand solemnly chewing
the same piece of rope from different ends. Abdullah always led the line,
and followed Wright's ski tracks faithfully, so that if another man was
ahead and Wright turned aside Abdullah always turned too. It was quite a
manoeuvre for Wright to read the sledge-meter at the back of the
sledge. As for Begum: "Got Begum out of a soft patch by rolling her
over."[293]

On the whole the mules failed to adapt themselves to this life, and as
such must at present be considered to be a failure for Antarctic work.
Certainly those of our ponies which had the best chance to adapt
themselves went farthest, such as Nobby and Jimmy Pigg, both of whom had
expe