IN 8:: ARCH OF OUR OWN EXPEDITION 181 



to him that there was smoke in the tent — for it was now 

 too warm for snowhouses and we were using a tent in- 

 stead. After he had looked carefully at the pan in which 

 the doughnuts were simmering and had assured himself 

 there was no smoke, he announced that he must be get- 

 ting snowblind and said we should probably not be able 

 to travel the next day. He hoped it would not be a bad 

 attack; perhaps one day's delay would be all. 



But it turned out to be a bad attack. Before we had 

 supper eaten the tears were beginning to run down Cape 

 York's cheeks and his eyes, instead of feeling as if there 

 were smoke in them, felt as if there were grains of sand 

 under the eyelids. As usual, I made a long entry in my 

 diary. This took me about half an hour and by that time 

 my companion had begun to moan with a pain in the eye- 

 balls which resembles the shooting pains of toothache. 

 This was the first time I had seen snowblindness and the 

 severity of it was a revelation to me. I had imagined that 

 it was a kind of temporary blindness and had not realized 

 that it was painful. 



That night I was awikened now and then by Cape 

 York's moaning. I offe ed to do whatever I could but 

 he said there was nothing to do but what he was doing, 

 which was to crouch on all fours with his head covered 

 by a blanket. The cover was necessary to keep out the 

 light for it was spring now and the nights were no longer 

 dark except for two or three hours around midnight. 



All the next day the pain in Cape York's eyes was un- 

 abated. The first sign of improvement was that towards 

 midnight he fell asleep. Next morning when I woke up 

 he was cooking breakfast with his eyes protected by col- 

 ored goggles which we had secured from Captain Leavitt. 

 The pain was no longer intense, he said, but tears were 



