1902] RESULT OF A BLIZZARD 367 



covered with ice, the sleeping-bag is filled with it, and there is 

 not a single acticle of our equipment which has not had pounds 

 added to its weight. It is a gruesome thought ; the tempera- 

 ture is falling again, and we shall soon have the normal condition 

 of intense cold, with an accumulation of ice which will double 

 each separate discomfort. We realise we are in for a ' high old 

 time,' and that the effects of this gale will be felt to the bitter 

 end of the journey ; there will be no drying, and the ice which 

 we have gathered will remain with us throughout. However, 

 it is no use inveighing against the inevitable, and we start to dig 

 out our sledges, and afterwards books, instruments, and pro- 

 visions are taken out and brushed, whilst the tanks and boxes 

 in which they have reposed are freed as far as possible from the 

 sandy deposit. Then we go back to the tent for our well- 

 earned breakfast, and in due course step forth once more on 

 the march. 



As can well be imagined, the diaries which record the 

 doings of a sledge party, and which are written in such adverse 

 circumstances as I have described, do not enter into the hard- 

 ships and discomforts which are inevitable to the day's work, 

 but in the main are devoted to the special incidents of the 

 particular day. Such references to the normal conditions as 

 they contain are rather in the form of hasty and incomplete 

 entries which would convey little to the outsider, though 

 they may amply stimulate the memory of the writer, who 

 possesses the key to the situation. It will not be difficult to 

 understand, however, that the person who has actually been 

 through sledging experiences will have little trouble in recalling 

 their general nature. The daily recurrence of discomforts and 

 hardships leaves an impression which is not easily dispelled, 

 and his memory affords him ample material for drawing a 

 typical picture of the sledge-traveller's daily round. 



It would be impossible in describing the special incidents 

 of our journeys always to supply the detail which would make 

 the circumstances clear. I have therefore in this chapter 

 endeavoured to describe what may be considered the normal 

 experiences and environment of the spring sledging parties, 



