372 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



not long enough fully to develop the pangs, but now, as week 

 follows week, we become more famished until our thoughts 

 turn to little else but food. The effects of breakfast have 

 passed in an hour, or at the most two, and we plod on with 

 unsatisfied longings during the morning. Lunch has become 

 almost an insult in its insufficiency ; it is gone in a twinkling, 

 and we gaze at the provision bag, frown at the cook, and wonder 

 if he has not cut our allowance too fine with a misplaced ardour 

 for saving. The end of the afternoon is sometimes really pain- 

 ful ; tired and worn, we feel a positive gnawing in the middle 

 and begin to doubt if supper-time will ever come. 



When at length the halt is called there is no need to hurry 

 the cook, though the conversation takes a personal turn if he 

 is clumsy with the Primus. Our sensations from the moment 

 that the first savoury scent of cooking issues from the tent till 

 the last drop of hoosh is poured down our craving throats are 

 beyond description ; they can only be imagined, and not even 

 that by such as have not known what hunger really is. 

 It is well to be asleep before the effects of supper wear off, but 

 this is rarely possible, and it is always a wise precaution to 

 haul one's belt quite tight for the night. 



Summer sledging is, in fact, a grind ; it is a grind because 

 only by putting forth one's utmost can one hope to achieve 

 success, and because a self-imposed task can be carried to 

 whatever lengths one chooses. Although it is conducted 

 under far less severe conditions than those of the spring 

 journeys, it has drawbacks and difficulties of its own, which 

 are increased in proportion to the serious nature of the effort 

 which is being made. 



At perhaps too tedious a length I have set forth the objects 

 of sledging, the manner in which it is organised and conducted, 

 and the difficulties with which it has to contend. I cannot 

 conclude without calling momentary attention to it as an 

 occupation for men, apart from the more practical results 

 which it purports to achieve. 



Sledging draws men into a closer companionship than can 

 any other mode of life. In its light the fraud must be quickly 



