2 62 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [August 



Yesterday we had a really successful balloon ascent: the 

 balloon ran out four miles of thread before it was released, and 

 the instrument fell without a parachute. The searchers followed 

 the clue about 2)4 miles to the north, when it turned and came 

 back parallel to itself, and only about 30 yards distant from it. 

 The instrument was found undamaged and with the record 

 properly scratched. 



Nelson has been out a good deal more of late. He has 

 got a good little run of serial temperatures with water samples, 

 and however meagre his results, they may be counted as exceed- 

 ingly accurate; his methods include the great scientific care which 

 is now considered necessary for this work, and one realises that 

 he is one of the few people who have been trained in it. Yes- 

 terday he got his first net haul from the bottom, with the as- 

 sistance of Atkinson and Cherry-Garrard. 



Atkinson has some personal interest in the work. He has 

 been getting remarkable results himself and has discovered a 

 host of new parasites in the seals; he has been trying to correlate 

 these with like discoveries in the fishes, in hope of working out 

 complete life histories in both primary and secondary hosts. 



But the joint hosts of the fishes may be the mollusca or other 

 creatures on which they feed, and hence the new fields for 

 Atkinson in Nelson's catches. There is a relative simplicity in 

 the round of life in its higher forms in these regions that would 

 seem especially hopeful for the parasitologist. 



My afternoon walk has become a pleasure; everything is 

 beautiful in this half light and the northern sky grows redder 

 as the light wanes. 



Tuesday, August 15. — The instrument recovered from the 

 balloon shows an ascent of lY^ miles, and the temperature at 

 that height only 5° or 6° C. below that at the surface. If, as 

 one must suppose, this layer extends over the Barrier, it would 

 there be at a considerably higher temperature than the sur- 

 face. Simpson has imagined a very cold surface layer on the 

 Barrier. 



The acetylene has suddenly failed, and I find myself at this 

 moment writing by daylight for the first time. 



The first addition to our colony came last night, when 

 * Lassie ' produced six or seven puppies — we are keeping the 

 family very quiet and as warm as possible in the stable. 



