1912] ANCIENT SEAWEED 89 
There is plenty of work for all hands, for besides collecting 
the seals and penguins we have had to carry over our equip- 
' ment, such as it is, and the provisions from our depot at Hell’s 
Gate to the site of the snow cave on Inexpressible Island, while 
three or four of us are usually at work there with pick and 
shovel. 
We have selected a hard drift under the lee of a small hill 
and have commenced burrowing into it, using two short-handled 
ice-axes of Priestley’s. It is slow work, but after a few hours 
we had a sheltered place to work in and made better progress. 
We have also been experimenting on a blubber reading lamp 
and are, I think, on a fair way to success. 
March 16.—Blowing hard all day, very cold. Our bags and 
all gear are covered with drift. The outlook is not very cheerful. 
We are evidently in for a winter here, under very hard condi- 
tions. When we can be out and working things are not so bad, 
but lying in our bags covered with drift, with nothing to do but 
speculate as to what has happened to the ship, is depressing. 
We are using salt water in our hoosh and some bleached and 
decayed seaweed from a raised beach, which we try to imagine 
is like cabbage. Priestley says he would not object to fresh sea- 
weed, but cannot induce himself to include prehistoric seaweed 
in our regular ration. 
March 17.—Still blowing, but clear, so after breakfast we 
struck camp, and started carrying our gear to the hut. The 
distance is only 1 mile, but over a chaos of big boulders which 
are the cause of many falls. Our boots have given out and 
finnesko would not last a day on such surface. Before we had 
got all our gear over, it came on to blow harder than ever, 
the squalls bringing small pebbles along with them, and we were 
several times taken off our feet and blown down. 
Luckily no one was damaged, although we all got pretty 
well frostbitten. It was a great relief to get into our finished hut 
out of the wind. 
We were all dead tired, and turned in directly after hoosh. 
March 18.—Our first night in the hut was cold, as we have 
no door yet and no insulation; in fact, it will take at least two 
days’ more work to make it big enough for us, but it is a shelter 
from the wind, which we can hear roaring outside. We spent 
the day chipping away at the ice walls and floor. As a matter 
