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THE HEART OF THE DESERT-OCEAN. 109
to be perfectly stiff with cold, for there were 36° of frost
inside my bed, and for some time I could do nothing but
lie perfectly still ; but gradually my limbs used to thaw,
and after stopping up every chink and cranny at which
the cold was able to penetrate, I eventually became quite
warm, and the gradually thickening coverlet of snow kept
me warm all night. I slept like a log till morning, and it
was very seldom that the chance snow-flakes, which trickled
down from my neck on to my bare shoulder, were able to
waken me.
The worst of all was, however, getting up in the morning,
for the night cold literally " tied me up into knots." As soon
as the fire was briskly burning, I used to dress in a sitting
posture in front of the blaze. The temperature in front of
me would be 86° Fahr., while at my back it was - 22°, and
time after time I had to thrust my hands almost into the
blaze before I could feel to fasten the buttons. Sometimes
the snowflakes would shower down upon my neck and back
in a way that was the reverse of agreeable. Islam then
brought me a metal basin with warm water in it for
washing, and it was simply delightful. But once I had got
my wolf-skin coat over my shoulders, and sat drinking my
boiling hot tea, I soon forgot all the little inconveniences
of the night.
In our next day’s march we were less fortunate. The
wind was against us, and at the very warmest part of the
day the thermometer only registered 8^° Fahr. Deeper and
deeper we penetrated into the high sand, and there was not
a scrap of fuel to be had. Fortunately, we had brought
some with us from our last camp, but it was all too soon
used up, and after that it got so cold that we could do
nothing but go to bed. Next morning, the 5th January,
the snow, after a very heavy fall during the night, lay so
thick that it cost us a certain amount of trouble to gather
our effects together. The very places where our fires had
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