168 SPITSBERGEN chap, xi 



out of sight that the plane-table had to be set up every half- 

 mile in order not to lose connection with the country left 

 behind. Thus I fell farther and farther to the rear. It was 

 with no little satisfaction that at length I beheld the others 

 halt, and saw in the far distance pitching of tents, and ponies 

 turned to graze. Surely they cannot there be actually on the 

 pass ! Nor, in fact, were they ; they had but reached the 

 last visible grazing patch, a miserably barren ground, with 

 low plants every here and there, a yard or two apart, in 

 the narrow desert between the river and the debris slopes. 



When camp was pitched and cooking in progress under 

 Garwood's skilled management, Gregory went on round the 

 corner, and returned with excellent tidings. There was 

 moraine stuff from a large and perhaps final side glacier to 

 be crossed, and that appeared to be the last impediment. 

 There was no sign of snow-field to be passed, nothing that 

 need involve the ponies being left behind. Thus encouraged, 

 the day's concluding work of writing, map drawing, cata- 

 loguing, and the like went swiftly forward. It was 4.30 A.M. 

 (July 15) when Delusion Camp (308 feet) was pitched, and at 

 11.30 the last closed his note-book, and turned over to woo 

 the difficult god of sleep, with a milk-white cloud and a 

 howling wind around the fluttering tents. The canvas 

 pressing on the poles made them bend and quiver, and 

 they in turn passed down their vibrations to the springy 

 ground, which trembled beneath us, as though shaken by 

 a series of small earthquake waves. The wind was a matter 

 of no importance, but the fog was serious. It endured hour 

 after hour, and was as dense as ever when we awoke, so 

 that to go forward surveying was impossible. 



Not till 10.45 P - M - were we able to set out, and then 

 slapping our sides and blowing on our fingers, for the 

 air was bitterly cold. The caravan plunged at once into a 

 moraine area, the largest and most troublesome we had met ; 



