17 May, 1911

I heard a dog barking in the night. He had something wrong with his hind leg - this morning the poor brute was dead. Today Wilson conducted an autopsy but could find nothing wrong. This is the third animal that has died here without apparent cause. He's going to examine the brain tomorrow.

I'm afraid we can place but little reliance on our dog teams and reflect ruefully on the misplaced confidence with which I regarded the provision of our transport. Well, one must suffer for errors of judgment.

I just hope I don't suffer too much.

Oates gave an excellent little lecture on the management of horses. I really should have had him go up to purchase them. He's feeding them chaff and either oats and oil-cake on alternate days, with bran mash in the evenings. We also had a talk on balancing our horses for pulling, and oats was helpful here too in referring to the gymnastic training done by foreigners with their horses.

It's all on those horses. I hope he's got it right.