WINTER QUARTERS, CAPE EVANS, 1911. 



Latitude, 77 38' -4 S. Longitude, 166 24' -1 E. 



Height above mean sea-level, 8 feet. 



One of the problems which required speedy solution after our return from sledging 

 in the late autumn was the building of a suitable shelter in which the pendulum observa- 

 tions at the base station could be made. Unfortunately, there was available neither 

 wood for the erection of a hut, nor any space in the living-hut itself. In these circum- 

 stances, the only alternatives were to build a hut from cases full of stores, or to dig 

 a cave in an ice or snow-drift. 



Choice was made of the latter alternative, and the same snow-drift consolidated to 

 ice, which made so efficient a magnetic cave, was also chosen as the site of the pendulum 

 cave. The two caves were about 100 feet apart. 



By the end of May, the cave was ready and the instruments installed. A diagram 

 of the cave is shown in Fig. 3. It was 6 feet high throughout, 14 feet long and 5 feet 



VOATH 



29 



5' 



\ 



JL 



8' 



i_ 



ENTRANCE 

 Fig. 3. Diagram showing dimensions and orientation of Ico Cavr. 



broad, and was approached by means of a narrow passage 8 feet long at right angles 

 to the main chamber. The cave was dug originally into the perpendicular ice cliff 

 left at the water's edge after the summer thaw, but gradually this became so drifted 

 up that it could only be entered by a long staircase cut down to the entrance through 

 the drifted snow. As each blizzard used to fill this staircase-like descent, it finally 

 became a matter of considerable labour to keep the entrance clear. 



27 



