THE FAR SOUTH.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13921, 26 March 1909, Page 5

THE FAR SOUTH.

SOUTH MAGNETIC POLE.

Fixed by Mr Mawson and party.

FORMER MILD CLIMATE. Ross Sea to South Pole a Continental Area. LIEUT. SHACKLETON'S RECORD

Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, March 2b. Tho folloAving is a supplementary narrative .which. was wired' to the Herald this morning. It was specially supplied to tho Press Association by Lieut. Shaekleton: "Wo started," said Lieut. Bhackleton, "from Cape Royd, . and on November 3 from Hut Point. ' ..; ' <r We had previously laid ,out at Hjit Point by^an sledging and tiid motor car, the main bulk of ojrfr. equipment, consisting of provisions, for 91 days. "Those provfsions were pemmican biscuits, cheese, chocolate, : plasmon, and small bottles of emergency oxol. "We had. also four sledges, fourpokiiesj two tents and four one-man sleeping bags. "The -whole of the tejjiis were -made of light Williesden duck, and the whole, including poles, etc., weighed only 30 lbs. v "The sledges w©re 3 lift, sledgesv each sleigh' weighting 601bs, equipped with straps and boxes for carrying oil and instruments. ' . / * . „ "Tlie instruments were a theodolite, prismatic compasses, cameras, thermometers, and boiling point thermometers. "The food of the four ponies was maize and a ration called raanjes ration — a dried 'ration ; consisting of carrots, currantfe, sugar, plasmon and meat, \s*i* "We would have started before November 3 from Hut Point but that oise of the .ponies went lame when crossing the sea, of ' •ice "towards the Pornjfe. ; , "We started, then,' from Hut Point on November 3 with the supporting party provisioned for fourteen days. "They' wore to go for nine days with us and return in five days, but owing to the soft snow and four days' of blizzard , . I sent them back. . * l . '. v \ "On' November 7 -we, were in a maze of crevasses off White Island, about thirty miles south of Hut Point. "Joyce, "who had been on the Discovery, fv*as in charge of *"£he. supporting pixty. "When the supporting party left, the weather cleared for half' an hour,Taad^Tr& weVe 1 < under wdigh; when 1 one of the ponies ■> (which was being .led by Adams) suddenly, got on to a hidden .. crack and went down to its middle with him in the soft snoV. , . v*"Wyld, who was going astern with the other sledge, saw the . danger and pulled the sledge along, enabling Adams to haul his' pony but just where the crack opened into an apparently bottomless cavern. ' "Another three' or four, feet and we would have lost Adams, the, pony, and half otir provisions. * . . "W y e were going then on an apparently level plain full of crevasses radiating in all directions. "When the weather cleared we were able to see where these were. . We camped there for a day when the weather, cleared. . In pitching camp ,the poniek have first to be tethered out, and for that purpose there' is a wire made fast on to one sledge, ■ then another sledge is bf ought up about 25 ft. ,away, and the wire stretched between these two sledges. '"The ponies are tethered by the heels to the wire, the reason for this is that if we had ,an ordinary tether they would bite through it and eat the rope. • ' "These Manchurians prefer buckles and leather and ea^h other's tails in preference to good ordinary food. Quan, my pony, was particularly keen on these dainties. ''Having* got the ponies tethered, they are brushed down - ahd the horsecloths put on and then fed. "They get ten pounds of food per day, and if they finish that and seem to want more we always gave them a bit more."