altogether to get them to go, and had to have help.  Then two of us shoved the sledge forward, while the third used the whip, shouting at the same time for all he was worth.  How hard and unfeeling one gets under such conditions; how one’s whole nature may be changed!  I am naturally fond of all animals, and try to avoid hurting them.  There is none of the “sportsman’s” instinct in me; it would never occur to me to kill an animal —­ rats and flies excepted —­ unless it was to support life.  I think I can say that in normal circumstances I loved my dogs, and the feeling was undoubtedly mutual.  But the circumstances we were now in were not normal —­ or was it, perhaps, myself who was not normal?  I have often thought since that such was really the case.  The daily hard work and the object I would not give up had made me brutal, for brutal I was when I forced those five skeletons to haul that excessive load.  I feel it yet when I think of Thor —­ a big, fine, smooth-haired dog —­ uttering his plaintive howls on the march, a thing one never hears a dog do while working.  I did not understand what it meant —­ would not understand, perhaps.  On he had to go —­ on till he dropped.  When we cut him open we found that his whole chest was one large abscess.

The altitude at noon gave us 81deg. 54’ 30’’, and we therefore went the other six miles to the south, and pitched our camp at 3.30 p.m. in 82deg.  S. We had latterly had a constant impression that the Barrier was rising, and in the opinion of all of us we ought now to have been at a height of about 1,500 feet and a good way up the slope leading to the Pole.  Personally I thought the ground continued to rise to the south.  It was all imagination, as our later measurements showed.

We had now reached our highest latitude that autumn, and had reason to be well satisfied.  We laid down 1,370 pounds here, chiefly dogs’ pemmican.  We did nothing that afternoon, only rested a little.  The weather was brisk, clear and calm, -13deg.  F. The distance this last day was thirteen and a half miles.

Next day we stayed where we were, built our depot, and marked it.  The marking was done in the same way as in 81deg.  S., with this difference, that here the pieces of packing-case had small, dark blue strips of cloth fastened to the top, which made them easier to see.  We made this depot very secure, so that we could be certain it would stand bad weather in the course of the winter.  I also left my sledge behind, as I saw the impossibility of getting it home with my team; besides which, an extra sledge at this point might possibly be useful later.  This depot —­ 12 feet high —­ was marked with a bamboo and a flag on the top, so that it could be seen a great way off.