On December 1 we left the glacier in high spirits.  It was cut up by innumerable crevasses and holes.  We were now at a height of 9,370 feet.  In the mist and driving snow it looked as if we had a frozen lake before us; but it proved to be a sloping plateau of ice, full of small blocks of ice.  Our walk across this frozen lake was not pleasant.  The ground under our feet was evidently hollow, and it sounded as if we were walking on empty barrels.  First a man fell through, then a couple of dogs; but they got up again all right.  We could not, of course, use our ski on this smooth-polished ice, but we got on fairly well with the sledges.  We called this place the Devil’s Ballroom.  This part of our march was the most unpleasant of the whole trip.  On December 2 we reached our greatest elevation.  According to the hypsometer and our aneroid barometer we were at a height of 11,075 feet —­ this was in lat. 87deg. 51’.  On December 8 the bad weather came to an end, the sun shone on us once more, and we were able to take our observations again.  It proved that the observations and our reckoning of the distance covered gave exactly the same result —­ namely, 88deg. 16’ S. lat.  Before us lay an absolutely flat plateau, only broken by small crevices.  In the afternoon we passed 88deg. 23’, Shackleton’s farthest south.  We pitched our camp in 88deg. 25’, and established our last depot —­ No. 10.  From 88deg. 25’ the plateau began to descend evenly and very slowly.  We reached 88deg. 29’ on December 9.  On December 10, 88deg. 56’; December 11, 89deg. 15’; December 12, 89deg. 30’; December 13, 89deg. 45’.

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.