i 9 o2] DISADVANTAGES OF SUMMER 371 



below freezing, snow incautiously left in the provision tank 

 will melt and render everything soft and sodden. 



From start to finish of the march we have to wear goggles 

 for protection against the intense glare, but we grow inexpressibly 

 sick of these safeguards, and weary of always seeing the world 

 through a tiny aperture. In spite of this protection, too, snow- 

 blindness is common, and rarely a night goes by but someone 

 needs doctoring ; the solution of zinc sulphate is thawed out, 

 and the sufferer lies flat on his back whilst a ministering 

 companion drops the remedy into his eyes with the end of a 

 match. It is one of those remedies which might be thought 

 worse than the disease, for it gives the victim what he calls 

 ' gyP>' anc * generally keeps him awake for the next hour or two 

 with throbbing eyeballs. 



In the spring journeys the marches had to be suited to the 

 conditions, but in the summer we live to march ; there is no 

 excuse for dawdling in the morning now, and we are soon on 

 the go. Hour after hour passes till the welcome halt for 

 lunch, and then again hour after hour till the night camp is 

 pitched. It is very toilsome work. Day after day we put 

 forth our best efforts, but though physically fit and hard, it is 

 impossible not to feel stale at times and to long for the hands 

 of the watch to go faster ; the number of miles to show for a 

 long day's work seems ridiculously inadequate to the exertion 

 expended. When camping time comes, we feel almost 

 inclined to drop in our tracks and wish to goodness there was 

 someone else to pitch the tent or do the cooking. The march 

 has been arranged to absorb the maximum portion of our 

 energy, but there is not much present satisfaction in contem- 

 plating the limp condition that results. With the most 

 desperate desire to sit or lie down, we remember that it is our 

 duty to fix the position, and, with a groan, plod away to the 

 instrument box, produce theodolite, watch, and notebook, and 

 endeavour to collect all our faculties to start on the dreary 

 round of observations. 



But our most poignant suffering during the summer season 

 comes to us by reason of our hunger. The spring absence was 



BB2 



