50 SCOTT'S ‘LAST EXPEDITION [Aucust 
On the return journey we never rolled our bags up, but let 
them freeze out straight—arranging them carefully so that they 
should freeze in the best shape for gettting into them again. 
On the Barrier they were literally as hard as boards, but coming 
back down the Sound they never got so hard that they would not 
bend. I cannot say what a self-sacrifice I consider it to have 
been that Birdie handed over his dry eiderdown to me when we 
were coming back. At the time a dry sleeping-bag would have 
been of more value to any of us than untold wealth. 
Our bags were of course much worse after lying out a bliz- 
zard in them. 
Clothes —The details of our clothes were all taken down by 
Scott after we got in, and I will not repeat. We all agreed that 
we could not have bettered our clothing. I was foolish in start- 
ing with a vest which I had worn some time and which had 
stretched. A close-fitting vest would have been much warmer. 
As it was, on the march on the stillest [day] there seemed to be 
a draught blowing straight up my back. 
Before we had been many days in these very cold tempera- 
tures our clothes used to freeze so stiff in a few seconds after 
stepping outside the tent, that from our waists upwards we could 
never move our body or heads from that position until they 
were thawed out again at the next meal. We therefore got into 
the way of getting frozen in a position which would be most com- 
fortable. Our arms we moved with a good deal of straining, and 
getting into our harness was always a long job, all three doing one 
set of harness at a time. We got into the way of doing every- 
thing with mits on and very slowly, stopping immediately our 
hands were going, and restoring the circulation. 
Routine —We used to turn in for at least seven hours. This 
was the worst part of the day, and breakfast to me became in 
consequence quite the best meal. Sometimes I used to feel like 
shouting that it must be time to get up. Getting under weigh in 
the morning used to take generally a little under four hours, 3% 
hours as far as I can remember was good. Going out we had 
the primus going a large part of the time, though we turned it 
low after the meal was cooked. In the worst times we used to 
light the primus while we were in our bags in the morning and 
keep it going until we were just getting or had got the mouth 
of our bags levered open in the evening. We also tried getting 
