19"] LIVELY DISCUSSIONS 211 



mountain and sails across the cloudless northern sky; the wind 

 has fallen and the scene is glorious. 



It is my birthday, a fact I might easily have forgotten, but 

 my kind people did not. At lunch an immense birthday cake 

 made its appearance and we were photographed assembled about 

 it. Clissold had decorated its sugared top with various devices 

 in chocolate and crystallised fruit, flags and photographs of 

 myself. 



After my walk I discovered that great preparations were 

 in progress for a special dinner, and when the hour for that 

 meal arrived we sat down to a sumptuous spread with our sledge 

 banners hung about us. Clissold's especially excellent seal soup, 

 roast mutton and red currant jelly, fruit salad, asparagus and 

 chocolate such was our menu. For drink we had cider cup, a 

 mystery not yet fathomed, some sherry and a liqueur. 



After this luxurious meal everyone was very festive and 

 amiably argumentative. As I write there is a group in the dark 

 room discussing political progress with discussions another at 

 one corner of the dinner table airing its views on the origin of 

 matter and the probability of its ultimate discovery, and yet an- 

 other debating military problems. The scraps that reach me 

 from the various groups sometimes piece together in ludicrous 

 fashion. Perhaps these arguments are practically unprofitable, 

 but they give a great deal of pleasure to the participants. It's 

 delightful to hear the ring of triumph in some voice when the 

 owner imagines he has delivered himself of a well-rounded period 

 or a clinching statement concerning the point under discussion. 

 They are boys, all of them, but such excellent good-natured ones; 

 there has been no sign of sharpness or anger, no jarring note, 

 in all these wordy contests ! all end with a laugh. 



Nelson has offered Taylor a pair of socks to teach him some 

 geology ! This lulls me to sleep ! 



Wednesday, June 7. A very beautiful day. In the after- 

 noon went well out over the floe to the south, looking up Nelson 

 at his icehole and picking up Bowers at his thermometer. The 

 surface was polished and beautifully smooth for ski, the scene 

 brightly illuminated with moonlight, the air still and crisp, and 

 the thermometer at - io. Perfect conditions for a winter walk. 



In the evening I read a paper on ' The Ice Barrier and 

 Inland Ice.' I have strung together a good many new points 



