THE POLAR JOURNEY 323 



this early summer sledging on the Barrier was one of con- 

 stant wonder at its comfort. One had forgotten that a 

 tent could be warm and a sleeping-bag dry: so deep were 

 the contrary impressions that only actual experience was 

 convincing. " It is a sweltering day, the air breathless, the 

 glare intense — one loses sight of the fact that the tempera- 

 ture is low [ - 22°], one's mind seeks comparison in hot 

 sunlit streets and scorching pavements, yet six hours ago 

 my thumb was frost-bitten. All the inconveniences of 

 frozen footwear and damp clothes and sleeping-bags have 

 vanished entirely." 1 



We could not expect to get through this windy 

 area of Corner Camp without some bad weather. The 

 wind-blown surface improved, the ponies took their 

 heavier loads with ease, but as we came to our next camp 

 it was banking up to the S.E. and the breeze freshened 

 almost immediately. We built pony walls hurriedly and 

 by the time we had finished supper it was blowing force 5 

 (a.m. November 6, Camp 4). There was a moderate gale 

 with some drift all day which increased to force 8 with 

 more drift at night. It was impossible to march. The 

 drift took off a bit the next morning, and Meares and 

 Dimitri with the two dog-teams appeared and camped 

 astern of us. This was according to previous plan by 

 which the dog-teams were to start after us and catch us up, 

 since they travelled faster than the ponies. "The snow 

 and drift necessitated digging out ponies again and again 

 to keep them well sheltered from the wind. The walls 

 made a splendid lee, but some sledges at the extremities 

 were buried altogether, and our tent being rather close to 

 windward of our wall got the back eddy and was con- 

 tinually being snowed up above the door. After noon the 

 snow ceased except for surface drift. Snatcher knocked 

 his section of the wall over, and Jehu did so more than 

 ever. All ponies looked pretty miserable, as in spite of 

 the shelter they were bunged up, eyes and all, in drift which 

 had become ice and could not be removed without con- 

 siderable difficulty." 2 



1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 450. 2 Bowers. 



