THE WINTER JOURNEY 293 
sail on this journey. The shovel and the bamboos, with a 
lining, itself lined with ice, lashed to them, were packed on 
the top of the load and were now put on the snow until 
wanted. Our next job was to lift our three sleeping-bags 
one by one on to the floor-cloth: they covered it, bulging 
over the sides—those obstinate coffins which were all our 
life to us. . . . One of us is off by now to nurse his fingers 
back. The cooker was unlashed from the top of the instru- 
ment box; some parts of it were put on the bags with the 
primus, methylated spirit can, matches and so forth; others 
left to be filled with snow later. Taking a pole in each hand 
we three spread the bamboos over the whole. “ All right? 
Down!”’ from Bill; and we lowered them gently on to the 
soft snow, that they might not sink too far. The ice on 
the inner lining of the tent was formed mostly from the 
steam of the cooker. This we had been unable to beat or 
chip off in the past, and we were now, truth to tell, past 
worrying about it. The little ventilator in the top, made 
to let out this steam, had been tied up in order to keep in 
all possible heat. Then over with the outer cover, and for 
one of us the third worst job of the day was to begin. 
The worst job was to get into our bags: the second or equal 
worst was to lie in them for six hours (we had brought 
it down to six): this third worst was to get the primus 
lighted and a meal on the way. 
As cook of the day you took the broken metal frame- 
work, all that remained of our candlestick, and got your- 
self with difficulty into the funnel which formed the door. 
The enclosed space of the tent seemed much colder than 
the outside air : you tried three or four match-boxes and 
no match would strike: almost desperate, you asked for a 
new box to be given you from the sledge and got a light 
from this because it had not yet been in the warmth, so 
called, of the tent. The candle hung by a wire from the cap 
of the tent. It would be tedious to tell of the times we had 
getting the primus alight, and the lanyards of the weekly 
food bag unlashed. Probably by now the other two men 
have dug in the tent; squared up outside; filled and passed 
in the cooker; set the thermometer under the sledge and 
