That day we passed 88deg.  S., and camped in 88deg. 9’ S. A great surprise awaited us in the tent that evening.  I expected to find, as on the previous evening, that the boiling-point had fallen somewhat; in other words, that it would show a continued rise of the ground, but to our astonishment this was not so.  The water boiled at exactly the same temperature as on the preceding day.  I tried it several times, to convince myself that there was nothing wrong, each time with the same result.  There was great rejoicing among us all when I was able to announce that we had arrived on the top of the plateau.

December 7 began like the 6th, with absolutely thick weather, but, as they say, you never know what the day is like before sunset.  Possibly I might have chosen a better expression than this last —­ one more in agreement with the natural conditions —­ but I will let it stand.  Though for several weeks now the sun had not set, my readers will not be so critical as to reproach me with inaccuracy.  With a light wind from the north-east, we now went southward at a good speed over the perfectly level plain, with excellent going.  The uphill work had taken it out of our dogs, though not to any serious extent.  They had turned greedy —­ there is no denying that —­ and the half kilo of pemmican they got each day was not enough to fill their stomachs.  Early and late they were looking for something —­ no matter what —­ to devour.  To begin with they contented themselves with such loose objects as ski-bindings, whips, boots, and the like; but as we came to know their proclivities, we took such care of everything that they found no extra meals lying about.  But that was not the end of the matter.  They then went for the fixed lashings of the sledges, and —­ if we had allowed it —­ would very quickly have resolved the various sledges into their component parts.  But we found a way of stopping that:  every evening, on halting, the sledges were buried in the snow, so as to hide all the lashings.  That was successful; curiously enough, they never tried to force the “snow rampart.”  I may mention as a curious thing that these ravenous animals, that devoured everything they came across, even to the ebonite points of our ski-sticks, never made any attempt to break into the provision cases.  They lay there and went about among the sledges with their noses just on a level with the split cases, seeing and scenting the pemmican, without once making a sign of taking any.  But if one raised a lid, they were not long in showing themselves.  Then they all came in a great hurry and flocked about the sledges in the hope of getting a little extra bit.  I am at a loss to explain this behaviour; that bashfulness was not at the root of it, I am tolerably certain.