296 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. Apri 



for four of us, and for the cooking apparatus, and 

 though the temperature of the air outside was minus 

 42°, we got it up to plus 15° inside while cooking. 

 We were very much warmer and more comfortable 

 in this snow-pit than we should have been in the 

 tent. 



' Uh. — A beautiful day ; travelling bad for the first 

 two hours, the sledge capsized a great many times 

 down the slopes, being rather top-heavy. Had a very 

 heavy drag up the slope at the Black Cape ; and the 

 dogs, evidently knowing they were not very far from 

 home, were so eager to get on, that we could not 

 prevent them from tearing down the other side of the 

 slope at full speed, the sledge overtaking them before 

 they reached the bottom ; but they contrived to keep 

 clear of it in the most remarkable way. Just before 

 reaching Cape Eawson we met Lieutenant May and 

 Mr. Pullen, who very kindly assisted us round, and we 

 arrived on board at 8 p.m., very disappointed at finding 

 the main sledging parties had started, but very thank- 

 ful for returning to the ship all well.' 



On the 6 th I walked with Feilden to Black Cape 

 to choose the best spot for cutting a road through the 

 barrier of shore hummocks, in order that a path might 

 be prepared for the Greenland division. We found 

 the ice heaped up to a height of from fifteen to twenty 

 feet above the level of the floe, forming a barrier a 

 quarter of a mile in width, without one level spot large 

 enough for a sledge to rest on in an even position. 

 Simmons brought the dogs along with us as far as the 

 barrier ; he was now an experienced dog-driver, and 

 being a stronger man than an Eskimo was more useful 



