MR MAWSON'S VERSION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12184, 27 March 1909, Page 8

MR MAWSON'S VERSION.

Supplementing Professor David's magnetic pole survey, Mawson gives a graphic description of THE LONG TREK INLAND. The hauling was all done by three men ,no dogs being used. There was no supporting party, so the undertaking was specially daring and hazardous. For the first few weeks comparatively low temperatures were recorded, the thermometer reading 30 to 40 degrees below zero . "As summer advanced," Mawson added, "it became much warmer, and was soon

UNBEARABLY HOT. It will seenTstrange, doubtless, to persons whose general idea of the Antarctic is intense cold, when I tell you that we had to strip off our outer garments, and were often pulling the sledges clad only in our singlets. , The first portion of the journey was made with • comparative ease, as for about 250 miles the travelling lay among the sea ice. The adventurers journeyed along the coast until they discovered a suitable spot, from which f

THEY STRUCK INLAND to. ascend the plateau. Mawson said that both the Discovery and BorchgreVinck's expedition had the idea that it was possible to travel along the sea ice with a dog team at a very rapid pace, but "We soon found the work very different from the descriptions given previously. We also saw that the provisions would not last, and there were cut down to a very small allowance, which had to! be cooked on an extemporised blubber cooker. Seals and penguins were killed as we went along, and cooked on a slow blubber lamp. We soon managed to get used to blubber, and : :

SWALLOWED SEAL OIL, finally coming to drink it with hearty relish." ■ V

Mawson said that the Discovery party had staged that such fare was unpalatable and nauseating, and the slightest amount so highly objectionable that it caused vomiting. The explorers, however, took the diet easily, and found it really good. Only by establishing and stocking food depots was the party able to complete its hazardous journey and return: in safety.