294 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
It may be as well here to explain, that sledge-travelling is limited 
to the spring months. It cannot be commenced until there is suffi- 
cient daylight; it cannot be continued after the summer thaw has 
denuded the land of snow, or rendered the sea-ice unsafe: therefore it 
can seldom be prosecuted with advantage before the month of April, 
or later than June. 
The late Admiral Sir James Ross, the distinguished Commander 
of the Antarctic Expedition, who had served with very great credit 
in all the six voyages of Parry and John Ross, from 1818 to 1834, 
formed the connecting link between them and the Searching Expedi- 
tions, which commenced in 1848, and the first of which he commanded. 
He was acquainted with the flat sledges of the Hudson’s Bay territory, 
which alone can be used in deep snow, gliding as they do over its 
surface ; he was also acquainted with the Greenland dog-sledge, with 
its high narrow runners shod with ivory or bone, and which cut 
down through the usually thin layer of snow, and run upon the ice 
beneath; he was familiar with the various modifications of these 
typical forms, which had been used in the Arctic Expeditions of 
Parry and John Ross. 
He had, moreover, made several journeys with the natives of 
Boothia Felix, culminating in his discovery of the Magnetic Pole; 
and, on one of these journeys, he was absent from his ship for the 
then unprecedented period of twenty-nine days. 
It was under his directions that our sledges and tents were made 
in 1848; and these designs, with comparatively slight modifications, 
have continued in favour in all subsequent expeditions. 
The tent requires but little description. It is merely a pent-roof, 
about seven feet high along the ridge, supported on boarding-pikes or 
poles, crossed at each end, and covering an oblong space sufficient to 
enclose the party when lying down, and closely packed together. Its 
duty is merely to afford shelter from the wind and snow-drift, and its 
weight, when completely fitted, is, for a party of eight men, only about 
forty pounds. It is made of light closely-woven duck. 
The sledge is a much more important article of equipment. That 
which our experience has proved to be the most suitable is a large 
runner-sledge, 
It must be borne in mind that I am speaking of latitudes beyond 
the 70th parallel, where, unlike regions which lie somewhat less 
remote, the fall of snow is less considerable and never deep; and, 
moreover, that our sledges often have to be drawn over the sea-ice 
when flooded with water a foot in depth. 
The runners are rather broad, that is, three inches, and they stand 
