THE WINTER PARTY ^7 



readiness to be loaded onto a komatik. These boxes contained 

 saucepans, a frying pan, a tin opener, a primus stove and knives 

 and forks, etc., sufficient for two persons, while a 'ration box', 

 which would also have to be taken, contained concentrated 

 rations sufficient for two persons for seven days and included 

 such items as 6 pounds margarine, 6 pounds pemmican, porridge 

 oats, plasmon biscuits, pea flour and cocoa, etc. The seamen of 

 the party, used as they were to the loaded plates of roast meat and 

 potatoes which they prepared for themselves and the heavy dufls 

 which followed when they fed in Challenger, whether the ship 

 was on the equator or off the coast of Iceland, looked with dis- 

 appointment at the apparent inadequacy of the rations, not 

 realising how concentrated they were. 



Buck decided to go with Doc. and a dog team to establish a 

 camp for a week so that they might judge what the conditions 

 would be in a survey camp and what the snags might be. So on 

 29th November, having loaded the komatik with a camp box, 

 a ration box, tent and sleeping bags, they set out on their first 

 sledging journey, with Buck's and Bingham's teams harnessed 

 together, to make camp, after four hours' travelling, on the shore 

 of a saltwater lake. And here for a week, shooting ptarmigan for 

 winter use, and fishing through a hole in the ice for cod to feed 

 the dogs. Buck and Doc. acquainted themselves with the difficul- 

 ties and the conditions which would be experienced by those 

 occupying the survey camps during the long winter months ahead. 



The tents were of a new arctic pattern, having a double skin 

 and a ventilator in the outer canvas which could be opened by 

 a cord from inside; but when the primus stove was out it was 

 found that hoar frost formed both on the inside and between the 

 two skins, making the tent very damp when it thawed on the 

 primus being relit. So tubes were sewn from the inside to the 

 exterior ventilator, thus reducing considerably the amount of 

 hoar frost forming whenever the temperature in the tent was 

 allowed to fall. By spreading deerskin rugs between the sleeping 

 bags and the ground sheet the bags were kept moderately dry and 

 once the sleeper had overcome the sense of suffocation experienced 

 when using the hood he was able to sleep warmly and in comfort 

 even when the temperature in the tent was down to 0° F, as it 

 often was. 



