1853.] REMEDIES FOR SNOW BLINDNESS. 259 



from the sun's glare : doctor's shop opened, and vari- 

 ous remedies applied vinum opii, glycerine, tea-leaves, 

 tobacco, etc. Each seemed to have his favourite remedy, 

 and as there was no really bad case, it was as well to 

 let them have their run of humour : for my own part, I 

 was satisfied that a more lenient mixture of the vinum 

 opii was preferable. Example does wonders : I esta- 

 blished the daily wash of ten drops in a tablespoonful 

 of water, and I never had to apply the raw material 

 again. As my duties with sextant and theodolite brought 

 me into more direct collision with the sun, and I did not 

 suffer, my men soon found that the Captain's remedy 

 was perhaps the best; and gratefully they afterwards ac- 

 cepted the wash as I passed it round, giving each man 

 his strip of lint or bandage wherewith to bathe his eyes 

 before he entered upon his delicious dreams of deer, 

 musk-ox, hares, or ptarmigan, of which he was, as it re- 

 sulted, never to taste ! 



May 1 1 . About eight we moved forward ; heavy 

 work, warm sun, and pack-ice. As we gradually neared 

 what we imagined to be the smooth floe, we at length 

 perceived that we had ascended considerably above the 

 sea-level, and after moving forward about five hundred 

 yards, crossed over the low point which we had seen from 

 Princess Royal Island ; and thus, the labour being over, 

 very much to the satisfaction of our crew, having done a 

 heavy day's work, " pitched" before noon. The ascent 

 of our hill, having no weights and a chance of game, was 

 mere amusement : but our delay here was important. 

 The view from the summit enabled me to save hours, 

 nay days, of conjecture ; it furnished the groundwork 



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