SNOW-BLINDNESS 



swollen, and his eyes completely and tightly shut, so 

 that he did not know that I was attacked too. At first 

 I refrained from telling him, but the pain was very severe, 

 and I had to tell him. By the painful process of forcing 

 my eyehds apart with my fingers I could see a little, but 

 I was not able to do this for long. I continued to bathe 

 McGillan's eyes, and then suflJ'ered six hours' agony, 

 ending in a good long sleep, from which I awoke re- 

 freshed and much better. I was able to see without effort. 

 McGillan was also much better, and our relief, after the 

 anxiety we had felt, was very great. By midnight we 

 had improved so much that we walked to the penguin 

 rookery, where we had great fun with the birds and found 

 several eggs." 



The men stayed in camp for several days, seeing 

 no sign of the ship, and after their eyes were better 

 spent a good deal of time studying the neighbourhood 

 and especially the bird-life. They cut down their food 

 to two meals a day, as their supply of food was not 

 large. Finally, Mackintosh decided that he would 

 leave the mail-bag in the tent, it being too heavy to 

 carry for any distance, and march into Cape Boyds. 

 They made a start on the morning of January 11, carry- 

 ing forty pounds each, including food for three meals, 

 and expected to be able to reach the winter quarters 

 within twenty-four hours. The first portion of the journey 

 lay over hills of basaltic rock, at the base of Mount 

 Bird, and they thought it best to get as high as possible 

 in order to avoid the valleys and glaciers. They went 

 up about five thousand feet, and had fairly easy travel- 

 ling over slopes until they got well on to the glaciers. 

 Then their troubles commenced. They were \Yearing 

 ski-boots without spikes, and had many heavy falls on 

 the slippery ice. " We were walking along, each picking 

 his own tracks, and were about fifty yards apart, 



45 



