chap, v CAIRN CAMP 73 



with increasing frequency and in increasing volume. For 

 two hours we toiled across slopes, so boggy that the ponies 

 sank into them up to their bellies, and once both stuck fast 

 at the same time, seated on their haunches long enough for 

 Garwood to take their photographs. Beyond the cliff a 

 descent was made on to the flat ground near the head of 

 the bay. It was thought that the worst of our troubles were 

 now over, and that henceforward the route would be easy 

 as far ahead as could be seen. How little we knew ! 



The exact position of the head of the bay was not dis- 

 coverable, for the river empties into it through a hybrid 

 region of land and water, land that at the best is swamp, 

 and water that is mud. Now land and water were alike 

 enveloped in snow, between which and the frozen surface 

 of the bay was no line of demarcation. We kept beyond 

 the snow on a portion of the great bog which fills the whole 

 valley bottom hereabouts. The summer thaw had as yet 

 only penetrated about a foot deep into the spongy ground, 

 sometimes less, and there were patches covered with ice, good 

 to travel over, for the ponies' shoes were fitted with long 

 spikes. But the frozen islands ended all too soon, and the 

 snow beds were utterly soft and had to be waded. Many 

 side-valleys opened, all leading up to the plateau between 

 Advent and Coles Bays. At the mouth of each was a many- 

 channelled fan of stone-debris, about half a mile wide. All 

 the channels were filled with snow-slush or running water. 

 They had to be waded, one after another, with the water 

 washing right over the sledges, the contents of which were 

 protected by Willesden canvas covers. On these occasions 

 the ponies kicked and floundered about. Their work was 

 very severe, and they were as yet in poor condition. 



We soon became callous to wet, fortunately before reach- 

 ing the worst place of all, where there was more water than 

 land, and the moss merely stood up in islands and ridges 



