SUMMER JOURNEYS. 



155 



Polar travellers do not consider snow-blindness an affliction 

 which need call for any particular commiseration, as it is nearly 

 always the result of a man's own carelessness. It can, moreover, 

 be stopped at any stage in its development, as long as one is in 

 possession of the necessary means. It results from the effect of 

 the intense light, caused by the refraction of the sun's rays from 

 great fields of ice or snow. The first symptoms are a sensation of 

 heat in the eyes ; soon afterwards one begins to see indistinctly, 

 as if in a fog, and there is a feeling of having some foreign matter 



II. BAY FJORD, FARTHER EAST. 



in the eye. In spite of its short duration, the malady may be 

 serious enough, for it may turn into absolute blindness. As a 

 preventive measure, some travellers recommend spectacles of 

 smoke-coloured glass, while others prefer blue, green, or red 

 spectacles. Personally, I have felt benefited by all these colours 

 irrespectively, and I have also used very faintly tinted glass. On 

 the other hand, I have seen cases of snow-blindness, despite the 

 use of all these colours, and some people have found even two 

 pairs of glasses no good, but have had to 'take the veil/ in 

 addition, to protect themselves. For any one with fairly strong 



