THE SUPPLEMENTARY NARRATIVE.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12498, 26 March 1909, Page 2

THE SUPPLEMENTARY NARRATIVE.

The following supplementary narrative is specially supplied to the Press. Association, by" Lieutenant Shacbleton ":— -We started from Capo Royd, and on the 3rd November from Hut Point. We Had previously laid out at ."Hut Point,by man sledging, and the •motor car... The main bulk of our equipment consisted of provisions for 01 days, those provisions trer* pemmican'bis ouits.cheese, chocolate, plasmanj and small bottles of emergency oxol. We had also four -sledges,

four ponies, two tents, and four oneman sleeping bags. Tho whole of tho touts wore i".ide of light Willesden duck, and the \Yhole. including poles etc., weighed only 301bs. The sledges wore lift ones, each sledge weighing COlbs, equipped with straps and boxes for carrying oil and instruments. Tho instruments were, theodolite, prismatic compasses, cameras, thermometers anJ boiliny point thermometers. Tho rood of the four ponies was maize and a ration crJled manjie ration, a dried ration consisting of carrots, currants sugar, plasmon and meat. We would have started before 3rd November from Hut Point, but that one of tho pomes went lame, when crossing the sea ice towards the Point. We starteel then from Hut Point on 3rd Nov with a supporting party provisioned tor 14 days. They were to go nine days with us, but owing to the soft snow and a four day's blizzard, I Mnt them back on the 7th November ff\vi c™e ™ r h ? n [ ? a maze of crevasses of s^fp 1 ? 1 ? 1 d> ou £ 30 mUes sou «i of Hut Point. Mr Joyce, who had been on the Discovery, .was in charge of the supporting party. When the supporting party left the weather cleared for half an hour,, and we were under .weigh when one of the ponies ing Adams to haul his pony out fust when the crack opened into an apparendy bottomless ycayern? Another a or 4 feet would have lost Adams the pony, and half a ton of provisfons! We were going then on an apparent! y level plain full of crevasse Sat ing in all directions. When the weafcher cleared we were ahfeto see pose there is a wire made fast on to mgm wmm iii§ mM¥m kSsKSSHks 126 days wr? =° ff i™ 3 ; clofcl J es for at fa a.m., consisting of haash W, ciut.andtea. Lunch at In m' con" and tfa° f I^ °r chees^is^ furows wenton for about lo days™ mg a pony taking turns every hour - +L fif * ad u the rou gnest time, as the following horses stepped into the tracks made by the front horse. Every ' hour or so we had a five minutes speft for the work- was hard both on man and horse, especially after the first 15 days, because the horses were sinking right up to their middle in soft snow. We were not working in ski or snow, shoes but wo wore Innesko^ that is fur boots made of the skin ofthe reindeer .with the fur outside. Wo sank into the snow . sometimes well above our ankles, and the horses, of course, sank m much deeper, as they were dragging so much weight. ■It was monotonous work travelling Tho men would travel about 12 to 15 feot • apart for fear of accidents with tho eieclge or pomes. T,WcV S TI". to hlT , ther questions Lieut Shackleton explained that the journey did not become particularly interesting until they began to sight new and, and that wm done about the 22nd of Nov. - Then we saw new mountains stretching • away to tho south, beyond Mt Longstaff. Wo were-eeparated from these by a broad expanse" -of plain. We had different depots. One depot, "A" had been laid + out previously and we reached that on the loth of Nov, some days beroro we sighted the mountains. The def)ot- was a mere spot on the great white plain, , The next depot was made m latitude 81d 4min south, that was to pick up on the way back, and it was 88 miles from depot "A." There we shot the first pony, cut him up and made a depot of oil, biscuits, and pony meat. Then we took on with us about 501bs of pony meat to eke out our provisions. We saw when at depot "A" that to do any big journey, owing to the surface of the snow being so . bad, we must reduce ' our daily ration of regular food. Ws supplenmehted it with horse meat, half a ration of ordinary food, plus the horse meat. We started using the horse meat about Nov 23rd. Wo were using for the ponies 401bs of food per day, and when one pony was shot, the man who had been leading him put on hia larness and helped to pull the extra load -given to another pony. • Tho sledge that had .. been emptied was made into a depot, and was marked and placed ondrup in the snow, with a bamboo rod and a black flag attached On Nov. 22nd we had sighted the new mountains, and we were still moving due south, v On Nov 28th we shot another pony. *We did not altogether shoot him for food. . We were getting short of food .for the ponies and it was. therefore necessary to decrease the mimber'of ponies in order that the others mighj>, be kept on full rations. We always mado a point of keeping the ponies on full rations; so that they never needed the whip. The ponies were' doing splendid work, and we treated them as well as possible.. The third pony was shot? on Nov 30ih; By this. time,the mountains had trended out to the southvcast, and as our course; was due south we decided to take advantage of -any gap to ascend inland. From , November 22nd to Nov 30fch nothing particular occurred, excepting that we had. .very thick weather and the sriow was geting softer all the time. .Then we made a reeonnalsaniie up' the mountain about 3000 feet. high, leaving the tent and the last pony in the oamp. From