The South Pole, Volume 1 by Roald Amundsen

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The last part of the way was rather hard work. We now found the
tracks that we had lost early in the day; one dried fish after
another stuck up out of the snow and led us straight on. We reached
Framheim at seven in the evening, half an hour earlier than we had
thought. It was a day's march of thirty-seven miles -- not so bad
for exhausted dogs. Lassesen was the only one I brought home out of
my team. Odin, whom I had sent home from 81deg. S., died after arriving
there. We lost altogether eight dogs on this trip; two of Stubberud's
died immediately after coming home from 81deg. S. Probably the cold was
chiefly responsible; I feel sure that with a reasonable temperature
they would have come through. The three men who came home from 81deg.
S. were safe and sound. It is true that they had run short of food
and matches the last day, but if the worst came to the worst, they
had the dogs. Since their return they had shot, brought in, cut up,
and stowed away, fifty seals -- a very good piece of work.

Lindstrom had been untiring during our absence; he had put everything
in splendid order. In the covered passage round the hut he had cut out
shelves in the snow and filled them with slices of seal meat. Here
alone there were steaks enough for the whole time we should spend
here. On the outer walls of the hut, which formed the other side of
the passage, he had put up shelves, and there all kinds of tinned
foods were stored. All was in such perfect order that one could put
one's hand on what one wanted in the dark. There stood salt meat
and bacon by themselves, and there were fish-cakes. There you read
the label on a tin of caramel pudding, and you could be sure that
the rest of the caramel puddings were in the vicinity. Quite right;
there they stood in a row, like a company of soldiers. Oh, Lindstrom,
how long will this order last?

Well, that was, of course, a question I put to myself in the strictest
secrecy. Let me turn over my diary. On Thursday, July 27, I find the
following entry: "The provision passage turns our days into chaotic
confusion. How my mind goes back to the time when one could find
what one wanted without a light of any kind! If you put out your hand
to get a plum-pudding and shut it again, you could be sure it was a
plum-pudding you had hold of. And so it was throughout Lindstrom's
department. But now -- good Heavens! I am ashamed to put down what
happened to me yesterday. I went out there in the most blissful
ignorance of the state of things now prevailing, and, of course,
I had no light with me, for everything had its place. I put out my
hand and grasped. According to my expectation I ought to have been in
possession of a packet of candles, but the experiment had failed. That
which I held in my hand could not possibly be a packet of candles. It
was evident from the feel that it was something of a woollen nature. I
laid the object down, and had recourse to the familiar expedient
of striking a match. Do you know what it was? A dirty old -- pair
of pants! and do you want to know where I found it? Well, it was
between the butter and the sweetmeats. That was mixing things up
with a vengeance." But Lindstrom must not have all the blame. In this
passage everyone was running backwards and forwards, early and late,
and as a rule in the dark. And if they knocked something down on the
way, I am not quite sure that they always stopped to pick it up again.

Then he had painted the ceiling of the room white. How cosy it
looked when we put our heads in that evening! He had seen us a long
way off on the Barrier, the rascal, and now the table was laid with
all manner of dainties. But seal-steaks and the smell of coffee were
what attracted us, and it was no small quantity that disappeared that
evening. Home! -- that word has a good sound, wherever it may be, at
sea, on land, or on -- the Barrier. How comfortable we made ourselves
that night! The first thing we did now was to dry all our reindeer-skin
clothes; they were wet through. This was not to be done in a hurry. We
had to stretch the garments that were to be dried on lines under the
ceiling of the room, so that we could not dry very much at a time.

We got everything ready, and made some improvements in our outfit
for a last depot journey before the winter set in. This time the
destination was 80deg. S., with about a ton and a quarter of fresh seal
meat. How immensely important it would be on the main journey if we
could give our dogs as much seal meat as they could eat at 80deg. S.;
we all saw the importance of this, and were eager to carry it out. We
set to work once more at the outfit; the last trip had taught us much
that was new. Thus Prestrud and Johansen had come to the conclusion
that a double sleeping-bag was preferable to two single ones. I will
not enter upon the discussion that naturally arose on this point. The
double bag has many advantages, and so has the single bag; let it
therefore remain a matter of taste. Those two were, however, the only
ones who made this alteration. Hanssen and Wisting were busy carrying
out the new idea for the tents, and it was not long before they had
finished. These tents are as much like a snow hut in form as they can
be; instead of being entirely round, they have a more oblong form,
but there is no flat side, and the wind has no point of attack. Our
personal outfit also underwent some improvements.

The Bay of Whales -- the inner part of it, from Man's Head to West
Cape -- was now entirely frozen over, but outside the sea lay immense
and dark. Our house was now completely covered with snow. Most of
this was Lindstrom's work; the blizzard had not helped him much. This
covering with snow has a great deal to do with keeping the hut snug
and warm. Our dogs -- 107 in number -- mostly look like pigs getting
ready for Christmas; even the famished ones that made the last trip
are beginning to recover. It is an extraordinary thing how quickly
such an animal can put on flesh.

It was interesting to watch the home-coming of the dogs from the
last trip. They showed no sign of surprise when we came into camp;
they might have been there all the time. It is true they were rather
more hungry than the rest. The meeting between Lassesen and Fix was
comic. These two were inseparable friends; the first-named was boss,
and the other obeyed him blindly. On this last trip I had left Fix at
home, as he did not give me the impression of being quite up to the
work; he had therefore put on a lot of flesh, big eater as he was. I
stood and watched their meeting with intense curiosity. Would not Fix
take advantage of the occasion to assume the position of boss? In such
a mass of dogs it took some little time before they came across each
other. Then it was quite touching. Fix ran straight up to the other,
began to lick him, and showed every sign of the greatest affection
and joy at seeing him again. Lassesen, on his part, took it all with
a very superior air, as befits a boss. Without further ceremony, he
rolled his fat friend in the snow and stood over him for a while --
no doubt to let him know that he was still absolute master, beyond
dispute. Poor Fix! -- he looked quite crestfallen. But this did not
last long; he soon avenged himself on the other, knowing that he
could tackle him with safety.

In order to give a picture of our life as it was at this time, I
will quote a day from my diary. March 25 -- Saturday: "Beautiful mild
weather, +6.8deg. F. all day. Very light breeze from the south-east. Our
seal-hunters -- the party that came home from 81deg. S. -- were out this
morning, and brought back three seals. This makes sixty-two seals
altogether since their return on March 11. We have now quite enough
fresh meat both for ourselves and for all our dogs. We get to like
seal-steak more and more every day. We should all be glad to eat it
at every meal, but we think it safer to make a little variety. For
breakfast -- eight o'clock -- we now have regularly hot cakes with
jam, and Lindstrom knows how to prepare them in a way that could not
be surpassed in the best American houses. In addition, we have bread,
butter, cheese, and coffee. For dinner we mostly have seal meat (we
introduced rather more tinned meat into the menu in the course of the
winter), and sweets in the form of tinned Californian fruit, tarts,
and tinned puddings. For supper, seal-steak, with whortleberry jam,
cheese, bread, butter, and coffee. Every Saturday evening a glass of
toddy and a cigar. I must frankly confess that I have never lived so
well. And the consequence is that we are all in the best of health, and
I feel certain that the whole enterprise will be crowned with success.

"It is strange indeed here to go outside in the evening and see the
cosy, warm lamp-light through the window of our little snow-covered
hut, and to feel that this is our snug, comfortable home on the
formidable and dreaded Barrier. All our little puppies -- as round
as Christmas pigs -- are wandering about outside, and at night they
lie in crowds about the door. They never take shelter under a roof
at night. They must be hardy beasts. Some of them are so fat that
they waddle just like geese."

The aurora australis was seen for the first time on the evening of
March 28. It was composed of shafts and bands, and extended from the
south-west to the north-east through the zenith. The light was pale
green and red. We see many fine sunsets here, unique in the splendour
of their colour. No doubt the surroundings in this fairyland of blue
and white do much to increase their beauty.

The departure of the last depot journey was fixed for Friday, March
31. A few days before, the seal-hunting party went out on the ice and
shot six seals for the depot. They were cleaned and all superfluous
parts removed, so that they should not be too heavy. The weight of
these six seals was then estimated at about 2,400 pounds.

On March 31, at 10 a.m., the last depot party started. It consisted
of seven men, six sledges, and thirty-six dogs. I did not go myself
this time. They had the most beautiful weather to begin their journey
-- dead calm and brilliantly clear. At seven o'clock that morning,
when I came out of the hut, I saw a sight so beautiful that I shall
never forget it. The whole surroundings of the station lay in deep,
dark shadow, in lee of the ridge to the east. But the sun's rays
reached over the Barrier farther to the north, and there the Barrier
lay golden red, bathed in the morning sun. It glittered and shone,
red and gold, against the jagged row of mighty masses of ice that
bounds our Barrier on the north. A spirit of peace breathed over
all. But from Framheim the smoke ascended quietly into the air,
and proclaimed that the spell of thousands of years was broken.

The sledges were heavily loaded when they went southward. I saw them
slowly disappear over the ridge by the starting-place. It was a quiet
time that followed after all the work and hurry of preparation. Not
that we two who stayed at home sat still doing nothing. We made
good use of the time. The first thing to be done was to put our
meteorological station in order. On April 1 all the instruments
were in use. In the kitchen were hung our two mercury barometers,
four aneroids, barograph, thermograph, and one thermometer. They were
placed in a well-protected corner, farthest from the stove. We had
no house as yet for our outside instruments, but the sub-director
went to work to prepare one as quickly as possible, and so nimble
were his hands that when the depot party returned there was the
finest instrument-screen standing ready on the hill, painted white
so that it shone a long way off: The wind-vane was a work of art,
constructed by our able engineer, Sundbeck. No factory could have
supplied a more handsome or tasteful one. In the instrument-screen we
had a thermograph, hygrometer, and thermometers. Observations were
made at 8 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m. When I was at home I took them,
and when I was away it was Lindstrom's work.

On the night before April 11 something or other fell down in the
kitchen -- according to Lindstrom, a sure sign that the travellers
might be expected home that day. And, sure enough, at noon we caught
sight of them up at the starting-place. They came across at such a
pace that the snow was scattered all round them, and in an hour's
time we had them back. They had much to tell us. In the first place,
that everything had been duly taken to the depot in 80deg.S. Then they
surprised me with an account of a fearfully crevassed piece of
surface that they had come upon, forty-six and a half miles from
the station, where they had lost two dogs. This was very strange;
we had now traversed this stretch of surface four times without being
particularly troubled with anything of this sort, and then, all of a
sudden, when they thought the whole surface was as solid as a rock,
they found themselves in danger of coming to grief altogether. In
thick weather they had gone too far to the west; then, instead of
arriving at the ridge, as we had done before, they came down into the
valley, and there found a surface so dangerous that they nearly had
a catastrophe. It was a precisely similar piece of surface to that
already mentioned to the south of 81deg. S., but full of small hummocks
everywhere. The ground was apparently solid enough, and this was just
the most dangerous thing about it; but, as they were crossing it,
large pieces of the surface fell away just in rear of them, disclosing
bottomless crevasses, big enough to swallow up everything -- men, dogs,
and sledges. With some difficulty they got out of this ugly place by
steering to the east. Now we knew of it, and we should certainly be
very careful not to come that way again. In spite of this, however,
we afterwards had an even more serious encounter with this nasty trap.

One dog had also been left behind on the way; it had a wound on one
of its feet, and could not be harnessed in the sledge. It had been
let loose a few miles to the north of the depot, doubtless with the
idea that it would follow the sledges. But the dog seemed to have
taken another view of the matter, and was never seen again. There
were some who thought that the dog had probably returned to the depot,
and was now passing its days in ease and luxury among the laboriously
transported seals' carcasses. I must confess that this idea was not
very attractive to me; there was, indeed, a possibility that such a
thing had happened, and that the greater part of our seal meat might
be missing when we wanted it. But our fears proved groundless; Cook --
that was the name of the dog; we had a Peary as well, of course --
was gone for ever.

The improved outfit was in every way successful. Praises of the new
tent were heard on every hand, and Prestrud and Johansen were in the
seventh heaven over their double sleeping-bag. I fancy the others
were very well satisfied with their single ones.

And with this the most important part of the autumn's work came to an
end. The foundation was solidly laid; now we had only to raise the
edifice. Let us briefly sum up the work accomplished between January
14 and April 11: The complete erection of the station, with
accommodation for nine men for several years; provision of fresh meat
for nine men and a hundred and fifteen dogs for half a year -- the
weight of the seals killed amounted to about 60 tons; and, finally,
the distribution of 3 tons of supplies in the depots in latitudes
80deg., 81deg., and 82deg.S. The depot in 80deg.S. contained seal
meat, dogs' pemmican, biscuits, butter, milk-powder, chocolate,
matches, and paraffin, besides a quantity of outfit. The total weight
of this depot was 4,200 pounds. In 81deg.S., 1/2 ton of dogs'
pemmican. In 82deg.S., pemmican, both for men and dogs, biscuits,
milk-powder, chocolate, and paraffin, besides a quantity of
outfit. The weight of this depot amounted to 1,366 pounds.

CHAPTER VII

Preparing for Winter

Winter! I believe most people look upon winter as a time of storms,
cold, and discomfort. They look forward to it with sadness, and bow
before the inevitable -- Providence ordains it so. The prospect of a
ball or two cheers them up a little, and makes the horizon somewhat
brighter; but, all the same -- darkness and cold -- ugh, no! let us
have summer, they say. What my comrades thought about the winter
that was approaching I cannot say; for my part, I looked forward
to it with pleasure. When I stood out there on the snow hill, and
saw the light shining out of the kitchen window, there came over me
an indescribable feeling of comfort and well-being. And the blacker
and more stormy the winter night might be, the greater would be this
feeling of well-being inside our snug little house. I see the reader's
questioning look, and know what he will say: "But weren't you awfully
afraid the Barrier would break off, and float you out to sea?" I will
answer this question as frankly as possible. With one exception, we
were all at this time of the opinion that the part of the Barrier on
which the hut stood rested on land, so that any fear of a sea voyage
was quite superfluous. As to the one who thought we were afloat, I
think I can say very definitely that he was not afraid. I believe,
as a matter of fact, that he gradually came round to the same view
as the rest of us.

If a general is to win a battle, he must always be prepared. If
his opponent makes a move, he must see that he is able to make a
counter-move; everything must be planned in advance, and nothing
unforeseen. We were in the same position; we had to consider beforehand
what the future might bring, and make our arrangements accordingly
while there was time. When the sun had left us, and the dark period
had set in, it would be too late. What first of all claimed our
attention and set our collective brain-machinery to work was the female
sex. There was no peace for us even on the Barrier. What happened
was that the entire feminine population -- eleven in number -- had
thought fit to appear in a condition usually considered "interesting,"
but which, under the circumstances, we by no means regarded in that
light. Our hands were indeed full enough without this. What was to be
done? Great deliberation. Eleven maternity hospitals seemed rather a
large order, but we knew by experience that they all required first
aid. If we left several of them in the same place there would be a
terrible scene, and it would end in their eating up each other's
pups. For what had happened only a few days before? Kaisa, a big
black-and-white bitch, had taken a three-months-old pup when no one
was looking, and made a meal off it. When we arrived we saw the tip
of its tail disappearing, so there was not much to be done. Now,
it fortunately happened that one of the dog-tents became vacant, as
Prestrud's team was divided among the other tents; as "forerunner,"
he had no use for dogs. Here, with a little contrivance, we could
get two of them disposed of; a dividing wall could be put up. When
first laying out the station, we had taken this side of life into
consideration, and a "hospital" in the shape of a sixteen-man tent
had been erected; but this was not nearly enough. We then had recourse
to the material of which there is such superabundance in these parts
of the earth-snow. We erected a splendid big snow-hut. Besides this,
Lindstrom in his leisure hours had erected a little building, which was
ready when we returned from the second depot journey. We had none of
us asked what it was for, but now we knew Lindstrom's kind heart. With
these arrangements at our disposal we were able to face the winter.

Camilla, the sly old fox, had taken things in time; she knew what
it meant to bring up children in the dark, and, in truth, it was
no pleasure. She had therefore made haste, and was ready as soon as
the original "hospital" was prepared. She could now look forward to
the future with calmness in the last rays of the disappearing sun;
when darkness set in, her young ones would be able to look after
themselves. Camilla, by the way, had her own views of bringing up
her children. What there was about the hospital that she did not
like I do not know, but it is certain that she preferred any other
place. It was no rare thing to come across Camilla in a tearing gale
and a temperature twenty below zero with one of her offspring in her
mouth. She was going out to look for a new place. Meanwhile, the three
others, who had to wait, were shrieking and howling. The places she
chose were not, as a rule, such as we should connect with the idea of
comfort; a case, for instance, standing on its side, and fully exposed
to the wind, or behind a stack of planks, with a draught coming through
that would have done credit to a factory chimney. But if she liked it,
there was nothing to be said. If the family were left alone in such
a place, she would spend some days there before moving on again. She
never returned to the hospital voluntarily, but it was not a rare thing
to see Johansen, who was guardian to the family, hauling off the lady
and as many of her little ones as he could get hold of in a hurry. They
then disappeared into the hospital with words of encouragement.

At the same time we introduced a new order of things with our
dogs. Hitherto we had been obliged to keep them tied up on account of
seal-hunting; otherwise they went off by themselves and ravaged. There
were certain individuals who specially distinguished themselves in
this way, like Wisting's Major. He was a born hunter, afraid of
nothing. Then there was Hassel's Svarten; but a good point about
him was that he went off alone, while the Major always had a whole
staff with him. They usually came back with their faces all covered
with blood. To put a stop to this sport we had been obliged to keep
them fast; but now that the seals had left us, we could let them
loose. Naturally the first use to which they put their liberty was
fighting. In the course of time -- for reasons impossible to discover
-- bitter feelings and hatred had arisen between certain of the dogs,
and now they were offered an opportunity of deciding which was the
stronger, and they seized upon it with avidity. But after a time their
manners improved, and a regular fight became a rarity. There were,
of course, a few who could never see each other without flying at one
another's throats, like Lassesen and Hans, for instance; but we knew
their ways, and could keep an eye on them. The dogs soon knew their
respective tents, and their places in them. They were let loose as
soon as we came out in the morning, and were chained up again in the
evening when they were to be fed. They got so used to this that we
never had much trouble; they all reported themselves cheerfully when
we came in the evening to fasten them up, and every animal knew his
own master and tent, and knew at once what was expected of him. With
howls of delight the various dogs collected about their masters, and
made for the tents in great jubilation. We kept up this arrangement
the whole time. Their food consisted of seal's flesh and blubber one
day, and dried fish the next; as a rule, both disappeared without any
objection, though they certainly preferred the seal. Throughout the
greater part of the winter we had carcasses of seals lying on the
slope, and these were usually a centre of great interest. The spot
might be regarded as the market-place of Framheim, and it was not
always a peaceful one. The customers were many and the demand great,
so that sometimes lively scenes took place. Our own store of seal's
flesh was in the "meat-tent." About a hundred seals had been cut up and
stacked there. As already mentioned, we built a wall of snow, two yards
high, round this tent, as a protection against the dogs. Although they
had as much to eat as they wanted, and although they knew they were not
allowed to try to get in -- or possibly this prohibition was just the
incentive -- they were always casting longing eyes in that direction,
and the number of claw-marks in the wall spoke eloquently of what went
on when we were not looking. Snuppesen, in particular, could not keep
herself away from that wall, and she was extremely light and agile,
so that she had the best chance. She never engaged in this sport by
herself, but always enticed out her attendant cavaliers, Fix and Lasse;
these, however, were less active, and had to be content with looking
on. While she jumped inside the wall -- which she only succeeded in
doing once or twice -- they ran round yelling. As soon as we heard
their howls, we knew exactly what was happening, and one of us went
out, armed with a stick. It required some cunning to catch her in the
act, for as soon as one approached, her cavaliers stopped howling, and
she understood that something was wrong. Her red fox's head could then
be seen over the top, looking round. It need scarcely be said that she
did not jump into the arms of the man with the stick, but, as a rule,
he did not give up until he had caught and punished her. Fix and Lasse
also had their turns; it was true they had done nothing wrong, but
they might. They knew this, and watched Snuppesen's chastisement at
a distance. The tent where we kept the dried fish stood always open;
none of them attempted to take fish.

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