generally regarded as lucky in securing the 

 specimen without harm to himself. It measured 

 a foot in length, and was armed with vicious^ 

 looking mandibles. Though not identical with 

 anything we had ever seen before, it much 

 resembled a magnificent tick, and was pro^ 

 nounced as belonging to the mite family. The 

 existence of these great ticks constituted a 

 distinct element of danger, and precautions 

 were taken to guard against possible injury 

 from that quarter. With this object in view 

 we were careful always in future to keep our 

 ice-axes within reach. ^ Our first camp on the 

 plains was never to be forgotten. Most of the 

 time intended for sleep was spent in ridding 

 ourselves of an almost microscopic species of 

 mite, which infested our campings ground and 

 invaded our persons. We learnt that a camp 

 in comfort could be expected here only after 

 taking the precaution previously to burn off the 

 vegetation from the site. In this way obnoxious 

 creatures were removed. Already our pro^ 

 gress was much impeded by the luxuriance of 

 the vegetation, and as this state of affairs did 

 not show signs of improving, we decided 

 to attempt navigation on a river which lay 

 about three leagues to the north, and appeared 

 to be the main drainage line of this portion of 

 36 



