WANT OF SLEEP 



of the cliff was capped by blue glacier ice. With the 

 help of steps cut by my ice-axe I climbed some distance 

 up this in order to try and get some fresh ice for cooking 

 purposes, but close to the top of the slope I accidentally 

 slipped and glissaded most unwillingly some distance 

 down before I was able to check myself by means of 

 the chisel edge of the ice-axe. My hands were some- 

 what cut and bruised, but otherwise no damage was 

 done. The whole of this ice was slightly bitter; no 

 doubt sea spray in heavy weather when the sea was 

 open during summer time, had dashed over the head- 

 land, and so flavoured the ice with sea salts. At 

 last I obtained some fairly fresh ice in the form of 

 large ice stalactites depending from an overhanging cliff 

 of glacier ice. With these and my geological specimens 

 I trudged back to the camp. 



On November 24, a strong keen wind was blowing 

 off the plateau from the west-south- west. This died 

 down later on in the morning at about 2 a.m. and the 

 temperature at 9 a.m. rose as high as plus 20° Fahr. 

 We were all suffering somewhat from want of sleep, and 

 although the snow surface was better than it had been 

 for some little time we still found the work of sledging 

 very fatiguing. A three-man sleeping-bag, where you 

 are wedged in more or less tightly against your mates, 

 where all snore and shin one another and each feels on 

 waking that he is more sinned against than shinning, is 

 not conducive to real rest; and we rued the day that we 

 chose the three-man bag in preference to the one-man 

 bags. That afternoon and evening we slept a little longer 

 than usual, and felt much refreshed on the early morning 

 of November 25. 



It was interesting to watch at lunch time the anxious 

 face of the messman for the week as he sat with his nose 



127 



