98 SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION [June 
serve out from time to time. Our new hatch works well, and 
although it gets covered up, it keeps the shaft from getting 
blocked with snow, while the bamboo in the chimney keeps us 
an air hole. 
June 12.—The wind moderated to-day, and we were able 
to get out for sea ice and meat, and also a fresh store of bones 
from the old carcases of seals which we make use of in our 
blubber stoves. 
June 16.—Being Sunday we get twelve lumps of sugar and 
have two tabloids of ginger each. These chewed up with sugar 
and a little imagination give us preserved ginger. The weather 
during the week has been thick with snow when it has not been 
blowing, but we have given up hoping for good weather, and if 
we can get a lull every few days to bring up sea ice and blubber, 
we shall not worry. 
June 20.—The wind eased a little to-day, and I got out for 
a walk, but soon came in with a frostbitten nose. Our wind 
clothes are torn and so rotten with blubber that we have to be 
constantly mending them. The grease makes any snow or drift 
stick to them, and brushing them when we come in from a walk 
is a long business. We are feeling very excited about the feast 
on Midwinter Day, and have been discussing the menu for some 
time. It will consist of liver hoosh and biscuits, four sticks of 
chocolate, twenty-five raisins, and a sip of Wincarnis each. 
June 22.—Midwinter Day. ‘The weather was seasonable: 
pitch dark, with wind and a smothering drift outside. We woke 
up early, and being too impatient to wait longer, turned out, 
and for breakfast had our first full hoosh. In the evening 
we had another followed by cocoa with sugar in it, then four 
citric acid and two ginger tabloids, finishing up the evening with 
a sing-song and a little tobacco, which had been saved for the 
occasion. In addition four biscuits and four sticks of chocolate 
were served out, so that we retired to bed with full stomachs 
once again, and some of us have even saved a bite or two for 
to-morrow. 
After Midwinter Day time passed more quickly, and the 
knowledge that every day the sun was approaching us cheered 
us immensely. During the next month we have to celebrate no 
less than three birthdays, and each with its accompanying slight 
