I902] THE FEAST OF THE SUN 295 



as one descends to the ship they fall back on the more 

 practical details of our life, and little remains in the memory. 

 Here below the broad light of day has revealed not a little that 

 is ugly. The ugliness lay concealed under the glamour of the 

 dim mysterious twilight, but now the traces of man are all too 

 obvious : here is a little heap of dirty rubbish, there an empty 

 tin with a gaudy label, and everywhere the soil of traffic stain- 

 ing the purity of the snow. It is all a little too much like 

 a Bank-holiday picnic. 



' It is a curious fact that throughout the winter most of the 

 officers have preferred to take their walks alone. Many, no 

 doubt, would think that the fact was by no means curious, and 

 that one would naturally wish to escape from companionship 

 which he was so constantly forced to endure ; and, indeed, 

 before we sailed I constantly heard the remark, " How sick 

 you will get of one another ! " As a matter of fact, we are not 

 at all sick of each other's company, and if it transpires that the 

 plans of two individuals coincide as regards the day's walk, 

 they are only too delighted to go together. The real reason ^ 

 for separation is that plans rarely do coincide. Nearly every- 

 one likes to walk with an object, and no two people have 

 precisely the same object, and if they have, it is probably not 

 convenient to their work to leave the ship at the same hour. 

 It has also to be remembered that when two persons are 

 muffled up with Uttle showing but their noses, conversation 

 can only be carried on with difficulty, and an argument is 

 impossible.' 



^ August 2s^. — . . . Yesterday we kept the Feast of the 

 Sun, and celebrated it with an excellent dinner. Turtle soup, 

 tinned fish, seal cutlets, and mutton, washed down with 

 " Heidsieck, '95." The warrant officers joined us at dinner, 

 and afterwards we had the usual small concert, and proceed- 

 ings were kept up late and with the greatest hilarity. Armitage 

 brewed punch, but after previous experience few were rash 

 enough to partake of it, and the few are repenting heartily 

 to-day. 



* Everywhere on board now is stir and excitement ; sledges 



