GLACIAL FRINGE OF GRANT LAND 215 



every step. I was not inclined to complain however, 

 for the gravel here, wet as it was, was much preferable 

 to a foot of icy slush as a bed. 



I still had a dry coat and dry stockings to sleep in, 

 though my trousers and underwear were all I had, and 

 should have slept fairly comfortably, but for a blinding 

 headache from the fumes of the Primus stoves, which 

 of course went particularly wrong now. This headache 

 lasted me until I got out for a tramp after Ooblooyah 

 had laboured five hours sewing my trousers, which 

 the heavy snowshoeing and lifting on the sledges had 

 completely wrecked. 



It snowed incessantly after we arrived, making it 

 impossible to pick a road through the icy swamps 

 east of us. 



A seal was seen near the ice-foot just before we got 

 ashore here, and ten brant flew about our camp at 

 Southwest Camp. 



When I turned out, I was old and stiff in every 

 joint, my feet and ankles swollen and my left foot 

 almost out of commission from some wrench. The 

 doctor's salve brought it round a good deal, and 

 I hoped to be able to use it when the weather 

 cleared. 



One thing was sure, I simply could not have done 

 the work I was doing now, when I left the Roosevelt 

 or for a good many days after. 



It was rather a disagreeable 4th of July celebration 

 for us, wading through ice- water, and the weather such 

 that I could not even fly the flag. 



I hoped this constant snowfall would squeeze all 

 the moisture out of the air, so that we might have 



