chap, v CAIRN CAMP 



79 



matter of difficulty. At last came the very large fan at the 

 mouth of Fox Valley, up which we proposed to make 

 our farther advance. We had therefore to camp on a 

 boggy knoll at its mouth, choosing this exposed position 

 because the top was dry and visible from afar. We built 

 a stone-man for further emphasis, and called the place 

 Cairn Camp (340 feet). 



Throughout the march there had been no view save of 

 barren wastes and the feet of frozen hills, cut off at a height 

 of about 500 feet by a flat grey cloud-blanket. Now, 

 looking back down Advent Bay, we could still distinguish 

 the Point, and far beyond it across Ice Fjord the glaciers 

 and ranges behind Cape Boheman, bright under sunlight. 

 That particular piece of country was far more often beheld 

 by the sun than any other spot in the island that we saw. 

 When it was raining everywhere else, sunlight gilded the 

 Boheman glaciers. 



It rained heavily when we began to pitch camp, and a 

 fog came close about us. A white fox sneaked up to watch 

 our doings, glaucous gulls flew by and faded away in the 

 mist, purple sand-pipers uttered their plaintive cry, and the 

 murmur of many waters filled the air. We fed Spits, and 

 rested ourselves under shelter, with wet legs stuck forth 

 beyond the mackintosh sheet. A short excursion up Fox 

 Valley revealed difficulties, and induced doubts as to whether 

 that was the right way to Low Sound. It was a bleak 

 winding valley with a narrow stony floor, broken by a 

 stream in a deep gully, whose precipitous walls were fringed 

 all along both sides by great snow cornices. The only way 

 ponies could take sledges up it was along the bed of the 

 stream, where ours would be smashed up in a short time. 

 Clearly we must climb to some high point and take a good 

 view round, before a decision could be come to about what 

 should next be done. The only food on the sledge was a 



