the plateau.  We stubbornly continued our march; we would not give in until we had the plain itself before us.  Our hope was that the ridge projecting from Mount Don Pedro Christophersen would be the last; we now had it before us.  The going changed at once up here; the loose snow disappeared, and a few wind-waves (sastrugi) began to show themselves.  These were specially unpleasant to deal with on this last ridge; they lay from south-east to north-west, and were as hard as flints and as sharp as knives.  A fall among them might have had very serious consequences.  One would have thought the dogs had had enough work that day to tire them, but this last ridge, with its unpleasant snow-waves, did not seem to trouble them in the least.  We all drove up gaily, towed by the sledges, on to what looked to us like the final plateau, and halted at 8 p.m.  The weather had held fine, and we could apparently see a very long way.  In the far distance, extending to the north-west, rose peak after peak; this was the chain of mountains running to the south-east, which we now saw from the other side.  In our own vicinity, on the other band, we saw nothing but the backs of the mountains so frequently mentioned.  We afterwards learned how deceptive the light can be.  I consulted the aneroid immediately on our arrival at the camping-ground, and it showed 10,920 feet above the sea, which the hypsometer afterwards confirmed.  All the sledge-meters gave seventeen geographical miles, or thirty-one kilometres (nineteen and a quarter statute miles).  This day’s work —­ nineteen and a quarter miles, with an ascent of 5,750 feet —­ gives us some idea of what can be performed by dogs in good training.  Our sledges still had what might be considered heavy loads; it seems superfluous to give the animals any other testimonial than the bare fact.

It was difficult to find a place for the tent, so hard was the snow up here.  We found one, however, and set the tent.  Sleeping-bags and kit-bags were handed in to me, as usual, through the tent-door, and I arranged everything inside.  The cooking-case and the necessary provisions for that evening and the next morning were also passed in; but the part of my work that went more quickly than usual that night was getting the Primus started, and pumping it up to high-pressure.  I was hoping thereby to produce enough noise to deaden the shots that I knew would soon be heard —­ twenty-four of our brave companions and faithful helpers were marked out for death.  It was hard —­ but it had to be so.  We had agreed to shrink from nothing in order to reach our goal.  Each man was to kill his own dogs to the number that had been fixed.