1903 j A HEAVY LOSS 177 



before we could congratulate ourselves on escaping so lightly, 

 I found to my horror that the " Hints to Travellers " had 

 vanished. 



1 The gravity of this loss can scarcely be exaggerated ; but 

 whilst I realised the blow I felt that nothing would induce me 

 to return to the ship a second time ; I thought it fair, however, 

 to put the case to the others, and I am, as I expected, fortified 

 by their willing consent to take the risks of pushing on.' 



I must here explain what this loss signified. In travelling 

 to the west, we expected to be, as indeed we were, for some 

 weeks out of sight of landmarks. In such a case as this the 

 sledge traveller is in precisely the same position as a ship or 

 boat at sea : he can only obtain a knowledge of his where- 

 abouts by observations of the sun or stars, and with the help 

 of these observations he finds his latitude and longitude. To 

 find the latitude from an observation of a heavenly body, how- 

 ever, it is necessary to know the declination of that body, and 

 to find the longitude one must have not only the declination, 

 but certain logarithmic tables. In other words, to find either 

 latitude or longitude, a certain amount of data is required. 

 Now, all these necessary data are supplied in an excellent 

 little publication issued by the Royal Geographical Society 

 and called ' Hints to Travellers,' and it was on this book that 

 I was relying to be able to work out my sights and accurately 

 fix the position of my party. 



When this book was lost, therefore, the reader will see how 

 we were placed ; if we did not return to the ship to make good 

 our loss, we should be obliged to take the risk of marching 

 away into the unknown without exactly knowing where we 

 were or how to get back. 



As will be seen, this last is precisely what happened, and 

 if the loss of our ' Hints to Travellers ' did not lead us into 

 serious trouble it caused me many a bad half-hour. 



'Having decided to push on, we lost as little time as 



possible in packing our sledges, and in the afternoon we 



were off once more, steadily ascending over the rough ice. 



The Solitary Rocks have fallen behind us, and our camp 



YOL. 11. n 



