ARCTIC SLEDGE-TRAVELLING. 299 
sledging at one time; each separate sledge party consisting of one 
officer and six or seven men. 
Each sledge hoists a gay silken banner, emblazoned with some 
heraldic device, some pointed motto, perhaps the name given to the 
sledge, or perhaps some mysterious initials, known only to the leader 
of the small party—a little mystery, however, which only awaits the 
return home of the expedition for its satisfactory solution. 
After mutual cheers, they part upon their lonely and toilsome 
mission. But, trying as is the work before them, it would be difficult 
to over-rate the enthusiasm displayed. They have just passed through 
many months of darkness and confinement on board, spent chiefly in 
preparation for this great spring effort; nor is the keenest emulation 
wanting to complete a most impressive and characteristic display. 
Strong sense of duty, and an equally strong determination to accom- 
plish it—dauntless resolution and indomitable will; that useful com- 
pound of stubbornness and endurance which is so eminently British, 
and to which we islanders owe so much—certainly our Colonies and 
our commerce, possibly even our existence as a nation. 
These lonely little parties, daring and enduring so much, resemble 
sparks from that great fire which, I venture to say, is not yet extinct 
in this nation—the ardent love of the most adventurous enterprise. 
Each officer leads his party, selecting the route, jotting down 
everything noteworthy in his diary, making a running survey as they 
advance, and checking his estimated distances by astronomical obser- 
vations. He is also constantly on the look-out for game. When he 
can leave these ordinary duties he takes part in the manual labour 
of dragging the sledge. Clothed and fed like his men, he is housed, 
or rather tented, exactly as they are, sharing in all things with them ; 
thus he becomes something more than the leader, or even the head 
of the party: he is its very pulse. These relations fairly established, 
he receives, in return, the most implicit confidence and devotion of 
his people. If he reserves anything for his own private use it is his 
spoon: there being, of course, no washing up of mess traps after 
meals in frosty weather. 
In the extensive sledging operations of the third and last Govern- 
ment Searching Expedition, our entire immunity from severe frost- 
bites was in strong contrast with the second Expedition, where there 
were some thirty cases of seriously frost-bitten feet; and this fact affords 
most satisfactory proof of the greater efficiency of the men’s clothing. 
Before taking leave of these spring parties, let us glance at them 
on the march, and notice the amount of work accomplished by those 
we have already alluded to. 
