THE ORDER OF MARCH. 527 



the ropes, were obliged almost to grope their way through the broken ice off 

 Griffith Island. At two o'clock in the morning a vast quantity of piled-up 

 ice was reached, and progress having become all but impossible, the word 

 was given to halt and pitch tents. The seven sledges of the division were 

 soon secured on the smoothest spots, and the tents arose on the ice, flutter- 

 ing in the breeze. Tea was cooked, pipes were lit, and then each man 

 getting into his blanket-bag, went to sleep wishing for fine weather. But 

 " next day," says Osborn, " the weather was still as thick as pea-soup, with 

 a double-reef topsail breeze blowing in our teeth; but detention was 

 impossible, so we again packed-up, after a meal of chocolate and biscuit, 

 and facing towards Cape Walker, we carried the hummocks by storm. 

 Ignorance was bliss. Straight ahead, over and through everything was the 

 only way ; and, fresh, hearty, and strong, we surmounted tier after tier, 

 which more light and a clearer view might only have frightened us from 

 attempting. Here a loud cheer told where a sledge had scaled the pile in 

 its path, or shot in safety down the slope of some huge hummock. There 

 the cry, one ! two ! three ! haul ! of a jammed sledge, and quizzical jokes 

 upon name, flag, or motto, betokened that ' Success ' or ' True Blue ' had 

 floundered into a snow-wreath, above which the top of the sledge-load was 

 only to be seen, whilst seven red-faced mortals, grinning, and up to their 

 waists in snow, were perseveringly endeavouring to extricate it; officers 

 encouraging and showing the way ; the men labouring and laughing." On 

 the 17th smoother ice was reached sweeping away to the base of Cape 

 Walker. But the vapour-loaded south-west wind was stiU blowing, the 

 outlook was one greyish haze with fast falling snow, and sky and ice-floe 

 were indistinguishable from being of uniform colour, and both were covered 

 by a thick veil of mist. From the monotonous, featureless character of the 

 scene it was impossible to take bearings and so preserve a straight course, 

 and it was equally impossible to keep a compass constantly in hand. The 

 order of march was therefore very anxiously considered, and after having 

 been decided upon, was carefully observed. The officers, forming in a line 

 ahead, " raised the road," or made the track to be followed by the sledges, 

 " the crews of which soon learned that the easiest mode of travelling, and 

 most equal division of labour, consisted in marching directly after one 

 another ; but as the leading sledge had the extra work of breaking the road 

 through the snow, and straining the men's eyes in keeping sight of the 

 officers, the sledges were changed every half-hour or hour, according to 

 circumstances." 



The party travelled by night to avoid the glare of the sun and the snow- 

 blindness, of which it was the cause. But, in avoiding one evil, another was 

 incurred, for in travelling at night the men were subjected to the severest 

 weather — the greatest degree of cold — of the twenty-four hours. On Easter 



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