64 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [July 
[Though our sledge, which we called the Pantechnicon, 
was a mountain, and of a considerable weight, we started to 
do good marches. We dare not roll up our bags since 
the blizzard in case they should break. For two nights 
I got a fair sleep in the new eiderdown, nights which would 
have been nightmares under ordinary circumstances, but 
which now put some new life into me. Bill was now 
having the worst nights — never sleeping as far as he 
knew. We were not much better. My new eiderdown 
was already sopping and as hard as iron : I never thawed 
out the greater part of my big bag. Even Birdie began 
to shiver in his bag. Sometimes we would have done a 
great deal not to stop marching and turn in : but we had 
to turn in each night for six or seven hours, rising about 
5 A.M.] 
Our hands gave us more pain with cold than any other 
part, and this we all found to be the case. In the bags the 
hands, and half-mits and any other covering we liked 
to use, got soaking wet, and the skin sodden like washer- 
women's hands. The result, on turning out, was that they 
were ready to freeze at once, and even the tying of the 
tent door became a real difficulty, the more so as the tie 
had become stiff as wire. Another difficulty in the bags 
was the freezing of the lanyards after one had tied them 
inside the bag. Nothing would loosen them save thawing, 
in one's already painfully cold hands, and this was often 
awkward if one wished to turn out quickly. I believe the 
only satisfactory covering for the hands in these condi- 
tions would be a bag of dry saennegras, but we had only 
sufficient for our feet and it was not tried. 
