350 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



piece of wick proceeds to light it. His matches are produced 

 with great care from an inner pocket. Herein Hes great 

 danger, for on no account must moisture be allowed to con- 

 dense in that box ; the contents of many a matchbox have 

 been wasted by incaution. If he has been sufficiently careful, 

 however, the lamp-wick is soon sputtering and thin blue flame 

 creeps up about the burner of the lamp ; with bated breath he 

 waits for the psychological moment, and suddenly gives a 

 sharp stroke to the plunger of the lamp. If he has hit it off, 

 small shafts of blue flame shoot out beneath the caps, and in 

 a minute, as he works away at the pump, the top of the lamp 

 is surrounded by a hissing, roaring flame. If, however, he has 

 not hit it off", the yellow flame of free oil alone shoots up, and 

 all has to be done over again. Meanwhile the cooker has 

 been filled by those outside and handed in through the door. 

 Directly the lamp is lit the various vessels are placed on top of 

 it ; the lamp takes a deeper note as it gets to its work, and 

 those without breathe a sigh of relief as they realise that supper 

 is now really in sight. 



The cook now gets ahead with the contents of the provision 

 bag and continues to suff"er in comparative silence, for indeed 

 all this time he has suffered ; he has had to work with bared 

 hands and to seize one by one all these chilled metal articles, 

 where a moment's delay will convey a tingling, burning shock 

 to the fingers. Of such work it may be truly said : 



Ah me ! what perils do environ 



The man who meddles with cold iron. 



In our spring journeys it was impossible to avoid this trouble 

 with cold metal ; our fingers became to a certain extent callous, 

 but only when each finger-tip terminated in a large horny 

 blister. Except that they burnt and tingled, these blisters did 

 not give much trouble during a short journey, but were very 

 sore when they burst after one's return. On a long cold 

 journey one's fingers were liable to split and crack about the 

 nails, and this was both painful and troublesome. 



As soon as the tent is well secured without, those who 



