200 NEAREST THE POLE 



and clouds and snow squalls, straining the eyes and 

 rendering it very difficult to keep a course; strong 

 head wind and deep soft snow, but it was good to be 

 moving again. 



It was thick all day while we slept, and continued 

 so, with the land invisible. Just after we pitched the 

 tent, there was a brief, sharp flurry of hail, which rattled 

 on the tent in great shape, and startled the dogs. 



Another wearing march, though an improvement on 

 the previous one; and I had no reason to complain as 

 we covered sixteen paced miles in seven hours fifty 

 minutes, including ten minutes for lunch, and fifteen 

 for examining some moraine tumuli. Though the sun 

 did not shine through the clouds, it was warm enough 

 to thaw the surface of the snow, and this layer of 

 wet snow made very heavy snowshoeing. As a com- 

 pensation the sledges ran measurably easier. 



I kept the same pace as on previous marches, one- 

 half mile in ten minutes, then waited for the dogs to 

 come up. In this march the dogs made each half 

 mile in twelve and one-half minutes, as against full 

 fifteen minutes in the two previous marches. 



The densest of fog shrouded us for the first five 

 hours, and I kept my course by the wind-marks in 

 the snow; then it cleared overhead, and the sun shone 

 brilliantly, but the land remained shrouded. 



There was a persistent "fog eater" (fog bow) ahead 

 of us during this time. From 3:30 till 7, we could just 

 make out the low shores on our left. We pitched our 

 tent on a little patch of just-dried glacial clay in what 

 seemed to be a small bight of the shore, and having 

 plenty of water about us the supper was quickly cooked. 



