328 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



heat to turn ice into water as it does to raise the resultant 

 water to boiling-point. In other words, if the snow that is put 

 into the cookers is at a temperature of - 36°, it will take just 

 as much heat to turn it into water as it does subsequently to 

 raise the water to boiling-point. 



The practical bearing is obvious : it means that the sledge- 

 traveller requires nearly double the amount of fuel for cooking 

 his meals that would be necessary if he could fill his cookers 

 with water. Here again, therefore, he is handicapped in his 

 struggle for existence. 



The cook, having started his lamp under the cooker, pro- 

 ceeded to prepare the ingredients of the hoosh, by which term 

 the hot, thick soup that constituted the sledging meal was 

 generally known. Whilst he ladled out a spoonful from one 

 small bag and two from another, and added a little pepper and 

 a little salt, he kept a watchful eye for the first spurt of steam 

 which should signify that the water was on the boil. Directly 

 this appeared, off came the covers and in went the assortment 

 of food ; in a very few minutes there was a bubbling and 

 spluttering, and the tent was filled with the savoury odour of 

 the coming meal. Not a moment was lost ; with the steady 

 hand of the expert handling a priceless possession, the steaming 

 contents of the cooking-pot were soon being poured into the 

 several pannikins. Then came the cleaning of the pot by the 

 cook, whose perquisite this was; all that would not pour out 

 in a fluid state was rapidly scraped out with a spoon and trans- 

 ferred to the cook's mouth. Without again employing the 

 word 'cleaning,' I may say I have known worse ways of 

 emptying a pot. In the meanwhile the snow in the outer 

 cooker had melted, and so the water w^as all ready for trans- 

 ference to the inner vessel for the final brew of cocoa. As 

 soon as this was on the boil the lamp was extinguished. 



The excellence of this cooking-apparatus can only be 

 gleaned from a citation of figures. With it, boiling water 

 could be made from snow in twelve minutes ; a simple one- 

 course meal could be prepared in less than twenty minutes ; 

 and a two-course meal — that is, a hoosh with hot cocoa to 



