The character of the winds that blow on the edge of the Antarctic Continent was graphically shown by the fact that the men had to lean out upon it, at an angle of perhaps forty-five degrees, to walk in the ordinary wind, while no camera could record anything but a blank when the blizzard was at its height.
The hut which was the headquarters of the party had one window, which was in the roof. The breath of the men and the steam of the kitchen caused this to become frosted over to the thickness of 5 inches. Men going out to take the records of the climatological instruments had to break the ice that froze before their faces, from one side of their hoods to the other, and pictures showing how their faces were covered with great patches of frost bite, told an eloquent story of suffering.
But the scene was not all somber. The cellar was a natural refrigerator, and consisted simply of the space under the floor of the hut. When the cook wanted a piece of meat he would send a dog down to get a penguin or a leg of mutton, and would take it away from him as he came out. One day the dog got away with a leg of mutton, which was rescued only after a chase of two hours, and then it was so damaged that the party voted to give it to the dogs, after all. Reading matter was in great demand. One of the party read the Encyclopedia Britannica through to the O’s.
Upon one occasion Sir Douglas set out with Mr. Mertz and Lieut. Ninnis on a coast charting expedition. After going about 200 miles Ninnis and his sledge were lost in a great crevasse. Hours of calling brought no response, and the smashed-to-pieces sledge at the bottom told a painful story of his fate. Thereafter Mawson and Mertz turned around and started back to camp. They ate all the dogs, one by one, as they died by starvation.
Finally there was only one dog left--Old Ginger. “Old Ginger was a noble animal,” said Sir Douglas, “and he was game to the last. But when he died of that sheer hunger of the Antarctic wilderness of ice and snow, Mertz and I had to eat his carcass. We ate the bony parts first, breaking every bone so as to get out the marrow. Raw dog meat may not sound attractive at a distance, or when one is this far removed from the ultimate hunger in which the stomach seems to attack its very self, but there it tasted as good as anything you ever ate.