i 9 62] TYPICAL EXPERIENCES 349 



1 Three minutes more.' Heads go up ; it is time to look for 

 the camping spot. But we are now travelling over rough 

 sastrugi; we cannot camp on these with any hope of comfort. 

 Suddenly the owner of a keen eye says, ' There we are, sir ' ; 

 he has detected a smooth patch just large enough for our tents, 

 and we make for it. We march to the site and up goes the 

 leader's hand. The sledges stop dead ; traces and harness 

 fall with a clatter on the snow, and without a moment's delay 

 the heavily clad figures turn towards the sledges. There must 

 be no standing about in this weather ; we must be constantly 

 active until we can creep into the shelter of our thin tent. 

 Everyone is soon wrenching at the straps of the neatly packed 

 sledges and running busily to and fro with various articles of 

 the equipment. In each group of three, one man seizes the 

 tent-poles and after some struggling succeeds in planting them 

 firmly in the snow over the smoothest site he can find ; his 

 two companions advance with the tent, and whilst he holds 

 grimly to the poles they whisk it over his head and straighten 

 it till it hangs squarely on its support. One now pulls out and 

 arranges the skirting, whilst the other has seized the shovel and 

 is cutting out large slabs of snow as though his life depended 

 on it. 



I may here add that this was not always an easy task. 

 Sometimes the snow was brittle and crystalline and difficult to 

 work ; at others there was very little of it, especially when we 

 camped on glaciers ; but the worst condition was when it was 

 excessively hard. It may seem almost incredible that we 

 occasionally found wind-blown snow so hard that, except in 

 the strongest hands, a solid sharp shovel made no impression 

 on it. To prise out pieces at such times was really expert 

 work, and it was lucky that we only came on this condition 

 after we had had some experience. 



But to return to our tent. Whilst the others are delving 

 and securing the tent without, the cook has spread the floor- 

 cloth within, and is now seated on it with his Primus lamp and 

 provision bag. He handles the first with care, pours spirit 

 from a tiny flask into the outer cup, and laying in it a small 



