The whole country seemed to be made up of range upon range of mountains, but the surface over which we were going was so bad that the ponies sank in right up to their bellies, and we had to pull with might and main to get the sledges to move. By evening the ponies were nearly played out, especially old Quan, who was suffering, not from the weight of the sledge, but from the effort of lifting his feet and limbs through the soft snow, and on the following days we had practically to pull his sledge. The time had come for him to go, and I am sure that we all felt losing him and I was especially sorry, as he had been my special pony for several months. In spite of all his annoying tricks, his immense intelligence made him a general favourite. CHAPTER XXIV "THE HIGHWAY TO THE SOUTH" On December 1 we reached latitude 83° 16′ south and could see land stretching away to the east with a long white line in front of it that looked like a giant barrier. It seemed as though there was going to be a change in some gigantic way in keeping with the vastness of our surroundings. At one moment our thoughts were on the grandeur of the scene, the next on what we would have to eat if we were let loose in a good restaurant. For we were very hungry in these days, and lived mainly on pony-meat, while on the march, to cool our throats as we pulled in the hot sun, we chewed frozen meat. The four of us had, now that Quan was gone, to haul one sledge while Socks followed behind with the other, and he soon got into our pace and did splendid work. Although we were working only in shirts and pyjamas, the sun beat down on our heads and we perspired freely, whilst our feet were cold in the snow. It was heavy work for us as the surface was as bad as it could be, but soon after midday we got close enough to see that ahead of us were enormous pressure ridges, heavily crevassed and running a long way east, with not the smallest chance of our being able to get southing that way any longer on the Barrier. So we had to strike due south in toward the land, and in the evening were close to the ridges off the coast. There was a red hill about 3000 ft. near to us which we decided to go up on the following day, so that we could gain a view of the surrounding country. How anxious a time this was for us I need hardly mention, for time was precious and food more so, and unless we could find a good route through the mountains our way to the Pole was well-nigh blocked. Accordingly after breakfast we started off, leaving all camp gear standing and a good feed by Socks to last him for the day. Our allowance for lunch was four biscuits, four lumps of sugar, and two ounces of chocolate each, and we hoped to get water at the first of the rocks when we landed. Hardly had we gone one hundred yards when we came to a crevasse, and, finding it difficult to see clearly with my goggles, I took them off, and in consequence was afterwards attacked by snow-blindness.