l8 CHALLENGER 



of relief and goes below to stop the rum tots of those who have 

 gone off surveying for the day, nothing being more infuriating to 

 the sailor than to find when he returns, after a day in the field, 

 soaked to the skin and dead tired, that he has a 'cold' tot, one 

 that has been mixed with water since midday due to the failure 

 of those onboard to realise he is away for dinner. 



On this first day of the Labrador survey a large party of sur- 

 veying officers and men went ashore to prepare the base for 

 measurement, while other parties were marking the proposed 

 triangulation stations on the mountain tops, some of which are 

 as much as 3000 feet high; such heights take a deal of climbing, 

 starting from sea level laden with spars, ropes and iron pegs for 

 erecting the mark on the summit. The first few hundred feet of 

 the mountains were clothed with spruce and after that the climb 

 became steep and rough, the mountain sides being almost 

 entirely barren, even moss and lichens being scarce amongst the 

 huge tumbled boulders. These same mountains would then have 

 to be scaled again, with a theodolite on the back, to observe the 

 horizontal angles between the other main stations and the marks 

 which will by then have been set up along the coastline ; and then 

 perhaps again after that if the visibility closes dovsni on the top, 

 preventing observations. 



The base measurement party had a formidable task ahead of 

 them; part of the proposed base lay over stony, rough ground 

 while the remainder of the distance was across a swamp. It was 

 the best that could be found in this rugged country. Three days' 

 work was required before the hard ground had been levelled and 

 an earth causeway built across the swamp to take the steel tapes. 



The measurement itself must be made with great care ; even 

 the temperature of the tapes and the tension upon them must be 

 taken into account. It is a careful and unhurried process. 



All surveying parties cursed the black flies and the mosquitoes 

 which swarmed on the exposed parts of the face and body : head 

 nets and gloves were essential but, if the head net was allowed 

 to touch the face at any point, that part of the net would soon 

 be black with flies irritating damnably. Only when a strong wind 

 was blowing was there any respite from these pests. 



Rain fell heavily and steadily throughout these early days and 

 sometimes the whole of the base line area seemed to be under 



