Scott had set his heart upon the success of the motors.  He had run them in Norway and Switzerland; and everything was done that care and forethought could suggest.  At the back of his mind, I feel sure, was the wish to abolish the cruelty which the use of ponies and dogs necessarily entails.  “A small measure of success will be enough to show their possibilities, their ability to revolutionize polar transport.  Seeing the machines at work to-day [leaving Cape Evans] and remembering that every defect so far shown is purely mechanical, it is impossible not to be convinced of their value.  But the trifling mechanical defects and lack of experience show the risk of cutting out trials.  A season of experiment with a small workshop at hand may be all that stands between success and failure."[188] I do not believe that Scott built high hopes on these motors:  but it was a chance to help those who followed him.  Scott was always trying to do that.

Did they succeed or fail?  They certainly did not help us much, the motor which travelled farthest drawing a heavy load to just beyond Corner Camp.  But even so fifty statute miles is fifty miles, and that they did it at all was an enormous advance.  The distance travelled included hard and soft surfaces, and we found later when the snow bridges fell in during the summer that this car had crossed safely some broad crevasses.  Also they worked in temperatures down to -30 deg.  Fahr.  All this was to the good, for no motor-driven machine had travelled on the Barrier before.  The general design seemed to be right, all that was now wanted was experience.  As an experiment they were successful in the South, but Scott never knew their true possibilities; for they were the direct ancestors of the ‘tanks’ in France.

Night-marching had its advantages and disadvantages.  The ponies were pulling in the colder part of the day and resting in the warm, which was good.  Their coats dried well in the sun, and after a few days to get accustomed to the new conditions, they slept and fed in comparative comfort.  On the other hand the pulling surface was undoubtedly better when the sun was high and the temperature warmer.  Taking one thing with another there was no doubt that night-marching was better for ponies, but we seldom if ever tried it man-hauling.

[Illustration:  CAMP ON THE BARRIER—­E.  A. Wilson, del.]

Just now there was an amazing difference between day and night conditions.  At midnight one was making short work of everything, nursing fingers after doing up harness with minus temperatures and nasty cold winds:  by supper time the next morning we were sitting on our sledges writing up our diaries or meteorological logs, and even dabbling our bare toes in the snow, but not for long!  Shades of darkness!  How different all this was from what we had been through.  My personal impression of this early summer sledging on the Barrier was one of constant wonder at its comfort.