ming that tea might rob them of their slender chance
of sleep.

On sleeping-bags little new can be said--the eiderdown bag may be a
useful addition for a short time on a spring journey, but they soon
get iced up.

Bowers did not use an eiderdown bag throughout, and in some miraculous
manner he managed to turn his reindeer bag two or three times during
the journey. The following are the weights of sleeping-bags before
and after:

Starting Weight. Final Weight.
Wilson, reindeer and eiderdown 17 40
Bowers, reindeer only 17 33
C.-Garrard, reindeer and
eiderdown 18 45

This gives some idea of the ice collected.

The double tent has been reported an immense success. It weighed about
35 lbs. at starting and 60 lbs. on return: the ice mainly collected
on the inner tent.

The crampons are much praised, except by Bowers, who has an eccentric
attachment to our older form. We have discovered a hundred details
of clothes, mits, and footwear: there seems no solution to the
difficulties which attach to these articles in extreme cold; all Wilson
can say, speaking broadly, is 'the gear is excellent, excellent.' One
continues to wonder as to the possibilities of fur clothing as made by
the Esquimaux, with a sneaking feeling that it may outclass our more
civilised garb. For us this can only be a matter of speculation, as it
would have been quite impossible to have obtained such articles. With
the exception of this radically different alternative, I feel sure
we are as near perfection as experience can direct.

At any rate we can now hold that our system of clothing has come
through a severer test than any other, fur included.

_Effect of Journey_.--Wilson lost 3 1/2 lbs.; Bowers lost 2 1/2 lbs.;
C.-Garrard lost 1 lb.

CHAPTER XIII

The Return of the Sun

_Thursday, August_ 3.--We have had such a long spell of fine clear
weather without especially low temperatures that one can scarcely
grumble at the change which we found on waking this morning, when
the canopy of stratus cloud spread over us and the wind came in
those fitful gusts which promise a gale. All day the wind force has
been slowly increasing, whilst the temperature has risen to -15 deg.,
but there is no snow falling or drifting as yet. The steam cloud of
Erebus was streaming away to the N.W. this morning; now it is h