UNPLEASANTLY WARM 163 



eat fresh meat every day. This had not been done 

 without an object; if we should be visited with scurvy, 

 this fresh meat would be invaluable. As we were — 

 sound and healthy as we had never been before — the 

 seal-beef was a pleasant distraction in our menu, nothing 

 more. The temperature had risen greatly since we 

 came down on to the Barrier, and kept steady at about 

 + 14° F. We were so warm in our sleeping-bags 

 that we had to turn them with the hair out. That 

 was better; we breathed more freely and felt happier. 

 " Just like going into an ice-cellar," somebody remarked. 

 The same feeling as when on a really warm summer day 

 one comes out of the hot sun into cool shade. 



January 9. — " Same beastly weather; snow, snow, 

 snow, nothing but snow. Is there no end to it? 

 Thick too, so that we have not been able to see 

 ten yards ahead. Temperature +176° F. Thawing 

 everywhere on the sledges. Everything getting wet. 

 Have not found a single beacon in this blind man's 

 weather. The snow was very deep to begin with and 

 the going exceedingly heavy, but in spite of this the 

 dogs managed their sledges very well." That evening 

 the weather improved, fortunately, and became com- 

 paratively clear by the time we resumed our journey 

 at 10 p.m. Not long after we sighted one of our 

 beacons. It lay to the west, about 200 yards away. 

 We were thus not far out of our course; we turned 

 aside and went up to it, as it was interesting to see 



