chap, vii THE SASSENDAL 107 



ascending De Geer Valley, and crossing the low pass at its 

 head, would come out at this point into the upper part of 

 Advent Vale. 



When the valley opened out once more there were 

 gullies to be crossed, some wide and with steep or even 

 precipitous sides. Long detours and much uphill work was 

 involved, we fell into bogs and snow-beds again, and prog- 

 ress was difficult and slow. At last a gully, bigger than 

 all the others, caused protracted delay and labour. When 

 it was crossed we had to halt for the ponies' sake, though 

 the position was abominable for a camp, and the march 

 had been short. It was one A.m. There was not a yard 

 of dry ground, neither was there any clear water. The 

 earth was formed of dirty black debris, damply compacted 

 with moss into an oozy bog, which spread afar over the 

 sloping face of the hill. One spot was about as bad as 

 another, so we halted near a muddy trickle of water and 

 pitched Black Ooze Camp (530 feet) on spongy ground, that 

 squdged wherever we trod, and quickly evolved puddles 

 from our footprints. On the opposite side of the valley 

 reindeer were visible, so after supper Pedersen went forth 

 for meat. He saw about a score during a short stalk, and 

 brought down two of them — a welcome addition to our 

 supplies, though one would have sufficed. The ordinary 

 business of camp closed the day. 



We had by this time settled down into camp-life routine. 

 At first the smallness of the tents was a constant annoyance, 

 and we were used neither to the sledges nor to the cooking 

 apparatus. Now we, or rather Garwood, cooked with 

 promptitude, not to say elaboration. Variations upon the 

 sameness of the earlier menu were devised. Reindeer and 

 ptarmigan ousted ration-cartridges from the pot. We grew 

 fat instead of lean, and only the ponies suffered from short 

 commons. Camps were pitched and struck with rapidity ; 



