V 



384 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. May 



were engaged struggling through a long line of hum- 

 mocks, after emerging from which the travelling be- 

 came comparatively good, and we made fair progress. 

 Being the Queen's birthday, the colours were displayed 

 at lunch time, the " main brace " spliced, and Her 

 Majesty's health drunk by her most northern, though 

 not the less loyal subjects. 



' 2hth. — The fine weather of yesterday was too 

 good to last. To-day there is a great change. Heavy 

 lowering clouds hang all around — a dull and dismal 

 day with a sharp keen wind from the S.W. Great 

 difficulty in keeping to the track ; several times we lost 

 it, and did not succeed in picking it up again without 

 expending much time and trouble. Travelling over 

 an extensive floe, but with deep snow, with numerous 

 hard snow ridges and hillocks, that made the operation 

 of dragging the sledges up very laborious, whilst the 

 coming down was just as bad, as the " cripples " had 

 scarcely time to jump on one side before the sledge was 

 on the top of them. Ferbrache appears very bad, but 

 pluckily sticks to the drag ropes ; not, poor fellow, 

 that he is of much use there, as he can hardly keep 

 pace with us, much less pull ; it serves, however, as a 

 support to him. Eawlings and Simpson are not much 

 better. Out of thirty-four legs in the whole party we 

 can only muster eleven good ones — even some of these 

 are shaky. Distance made good one mile and-a-half. 



4 26th. — Blowing a strong S.W. gale, accompanied 

 by a heavy fall of snow and a dense snow-drift. Called 

 the cooks and had breakfast, holding ourselves in 

 readiness for a start should weather permit. In this, 

 however, we were grievously disappointed and were 



