TRAMPERS' TROUBLES

Northern Advocate, 2 May 1933, Page 4

TRAMPERS' TROUBLES

RATIONS AT BEDROCK SCIENTIFIC FEEDING. BODY HEAT MAINTAINED. (Special .to “Northern Advocate.”; AIASTERTON. This Day. “It was a case of ‘no work —no food,’ ” said Dr W. B. Patch, one of the party of tour trampers who spent a fortnight in the Tararuas. He was explaining how the party rationed its scanty food resources.

“We had two days’ supply of food, having left some at To Atatawai Hur, as we were heavily laden,” said Dr Sutch. “When wo set out for AH. Holdsworth we had three pounds of broad, two pounds of jam, 20 ounces of bully beef, IHhs of butter, Hh of chocolate, two small tins of sardines, 11b of choose, some soup powders and meat extracts, and U dozen eggs, but most of the eggs wore broken by falls on the journey. We ate most ot onr food tho first day, as the weather was bad. To produce heat wo ate chocolates, cheese, and one tin of bully beef. This leit ns with one day’s fond for the subsequent fortnight. “We were feeling very hungry tho first week, having rationed ourselves practically from the start, but wo did it on scientific principles, in order to secure the maximum value from tho carbohydrates. AVc knew the number ot calories in each class of our scant quantity of food, Alias Williams being a Home Science mistress.

Sustenance Minimum. “We never ate more food daily than just sufficient to maintain our energy, and rationed it according to the amount of effort we had to expend. Some days we had a dessert-spoon of jam for breakfast. When we were forced by the weather to halt when it was snowing, we ate enough to maintain our body heat, by taking half a teaspoonful of butter every five hours, but wc could not consume this on empty stomachs and mixed it with snow and dried skim milk. Our solid meals on an average were about a spoonful a day. “One morning wo had three sardines left, though we washed out the tin and drank the olive oik- We had nothing to cat at midday and arranged nearly all our travelling for the middle stages of the day. The jam was a real boon. We drank very little water. At times it was not easy to find water on the ridges, so we sucked a bit of moss, although we could have used snow.

“Four days ago we"finished our last solid food —four ounces of bully beef between ns.' After that we'lived on tea and two lemons, and even boiled a sugar bag to clean the sugar from the paper. I ate a lemon rind, “The eatable berries were not quite ripe and kiekios were not very plentiful, _ although we did secure an occasional bite."

All the niemhors of the party returnod much lighter in weight. Dr Sutch ”* who travelled on very short rations during a journey in Turkestan and Afghanistan, was the most seasoned and came out beat, showing remarkable vitality.

Praise for Miss Williams, Dr Sutch said Hiss Morva Williams showed remarkable bush sense, her advice always being right. She had shown an indomitable spirit and was carried along on her nervous energy, O’Keefe, aged 2.T, the youngest of the party, was not so seasoned as the others and suffered terribly. At one stage of the climb to Mt. -Hector he had to halt every 50ft. He was very determined,' dogged and plucky, but suffered intensely from the cold. His frost-bitten feet were black. Dr Suteh did his best to massage them with his torn, bleeding hands. It took five days to thaw out O’Keefe’s frozen feet.

Dr Sutch said the party’s main equipment consisted of an aneroid barome, / 7 ter, three compasses, a map, a first aid outfit, fuel tablets, and waterproof matches. Some of the others had a change of clothing, but all were wearing shorts. He was travelling light in shorts, a jacket, and had no sleeping bag, but was lent a ground sheet, which “came in very handy indeed.” The others had sleeping bags and blankets. MR O’KEEFE’S NARRATIVE. ‘‘WE wertTnever LOST.” ‘‘ We were -never Inst, ’ ’ s*aid Hr O’Keefe yesterday, before his removal from his home to the Lewisham Hospital in Wellington for rest and treatment for frostbite. “We lined an altimeter, a barometer, three compasses and a map, and we know our position within a mile at all times.”

Mr O’Keefe said that but for the snow on the mountains and the flooded rivers they would have been out long before. Their main concern was to eke out the two days’ food supply they had set out with, and to conserve their strength. Fires were lighted every night and morning to boil the billy. “It was only a question of time and food,” he added. “Naturally, we were anxious about food, but apart from that we never had any doubt about getting out safelv. ”

Asked if he had left any indication of their route for the benefit of possible search parties, Mr O’Keefe said they had not deliberately left signs, but their camp sites would have been as good a guide as anything else. He wanted to emphasise the point that they were on their way out when they came across the Carterton Hampers. They were only a mile and a half from Mr Compton’s homestead, and he thought they could have walked the distance without great difficulty.