Up to this moment the observations and our reckoning had shown a surprising agreement.  We reckoned that we should be at the Pole on December 14.  On the afternoon of that day we had brilliant weather —­ a light wind from the south-east with a temperature of -10deg.  F. The sledges were going very well.  The day passed without any occurrence worth mentioning, and at three o’clock in the afternoon we halted, as according to our reckoning we had reached our goal.

We all assembled about the Norwegian flag —­ a handsome silken flag —­ which we took and planted all together, and gave the immense plateau on which the Pole is situated the name of “King Haakon VII.’s Plateau.”

It was a vast plain of the same character in every direction, mile after mile.  During the afternoon we traversed the neighbourhood of the camp, and on the following day, as the weather was fine, we were occupied from six in the morning till seven in the evening in taking observations, which gave us 89deg. 55’ as the result.  In order to take observations as near the Pole as possible, we went on, as near true south as we could, for the remaining 9 kilometres.  On December 16 we pitched our camp in brilliant sunshine, with the best conditions for taking observations.  Four of us took observations every hour of the day —­ twenty-four in all.  The results of these will be submitted to the examination of experts.

We have thus taken observations as near to the Pole as was humanly possible with the instruments at our disposal.  We had a sextant and artificial horizon calculated for a radius of 8 kilometres.

On December 17 we were ready to go.  We raised on the spot a little circular tent, and planted above it the Norwegian flag and the Fram’s pennant.  The Norwegian camp at the South Pole was given the name of “Polheim.”  The distance from our winter quarters to the Pole was about 870 English miles, so that we had covered on an average 15 1/2 miles a day.

We began the return journey on December 17.  The weather was unusually favourable, and this made our return considerably easier than the march to the Pole.  We arrived at “Framheim,” our winter quarters, in January, 1912, with two sledges and eleven dogs, all well.  On the homeward journey we covered an average of 22 1/2 miles a day.  The lowest temperature we observed on this trip was -24deg.  F., and the highest +23deg.  F.

The principal result —­ besides the attainment of the Pole —­ is the determination of the extent and character of the Ross Barrier.  Next to this, the discovery of a connection between South Victoria Land and, probably, King Edward VII.  Land through their continuation in huge mountain-ranges, which run to the south-east and were seen as far south as lat. 88deg. 8’, but which in all probability are continued right across the Antarctic Continent.  We gave the name of “Queen Maud’s Mountains” to the whole range of these newly discovered mountains, about 530 miles in length.