SS SHORT RATIONS 87 
places. The snow was soon so thick that the sledge was com- 
pletely buried with drift and the tent three-quarters hidden. 
During most of this fortnight we were living on one meal 
a day, and on this day we were unable even to get this, so that 
by the 29th, when the wind eased for a day or two, we were in 
no wise in a condition to look forward with equanimity to the 
chance of a winter without sufficient food or decent shelter; in 
fact so weak were we that a walk of a mile or two tired us 
far more than a hard day’s sledging had done a month before. 
Perhaps the worst feature in our present position, however, 
is the absence of any news from our comrades, and the fear 
which is naturally growing within us, lest the ship should have 
got into some trouble during this heavy weather. 
February 29.—The wind dropped in the morning, and we 
had our first fine day since the 15th. In the afternoon we pulled 
over and camped on the island south of the Moraine, which 
we have named Inexpressible Island. In the evening after 
hoosh we climbed ‘ Lookout’ Hill, and saw what we thought was 
smoke on the horizon, and under it a small black speck. Un- 
fortunately, it turned out to be only an iceberg with a cloud 
behind it, showing dark under a snow-squall. 
Soon after the wind and snow recommenced. 
March 1.—The weather cleared at 10 a.m. I had decided 
to start killing seals for the winter to-day if there was no sign 
of the ship, so after seeing no sign of anything from Look-out 
Hill, we killed and cut up two seals and eighteen penguins. 
There are very few of the former up, and seals hate wind, 
sO we must pray for fine weather to stock our larder, as the 
animals seldom leave the water in the winter. 
March 2 to 4.—It came on to blow hard in the night of 
the 1st, and continued blowing steadily for the next three days. 
The gale reached its height on the 3rd, when the tent split 
and we had to shift camp on to a snowdrift, where we could 
raise a bit of a snow wall. These last three days we have been 
lying in our wet bags, watching the tent poles bend and quiver 
as each squall strikes the tent, and speculating as to what can 
have happened to the ship. 
We also feel having only two biscuits a day and an insufh- 
cient supply of seal meat. We are hungry both for news of the 
Southern Party and for more food. 
