Soup, in which the flavour of tomatoes occurred all too frequently,
followed by seal or penguin, and twice a week by New Zealand mutton, with
tinned vegetables, formed the basis of our meal, and this was followed by
a pudding. We drank lime juice and water which sometimes included a
suspicious penguin flavour derived from the ice slopes from which our
water was quarried.
During our passage out to New Zealand in the ship (or as Meares always
insisted on calling her, the steamer) it was our pleasant custom to have
a glass of port or a liqueur after dinner. Alas, we had this no longer:
after leaving New Zealand space allowed of little wine being carried in
the Terra Nova, even if the general medical opinion of the expedition had
not considered its presence undesirable. We had, however, a few cases for
special festivals, as well as some excellent liqueur brandy which was
carried as medical comforts on our sledge journeys. Any officer who
allowed the distribution of this luxury on nearing the end of a journey
became extremely popular.
Lack of wine probably led to the suspension of a custom which had
prevailed on the Terra Nova, namely, the drinking of the old toast of
Saturday night, "Sweethearts and wives; may our sweethearts become our
wives, and our wives remain our sweethearts," and that more appropriate
(in our case) toast of Sunday, namely, "absent friends.
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