266 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [August 



nating and elusive as one re-examines them by the returning 

 light; some will be solved. 



Monday, August 21. Weights and measurements last even- 

 ing. We have remained surprisingly constant. There seems to 

 have been improvement in lung power and grip is shown by 

 spirometer and dynamometer, but weights have altered very 

 little. I have gone up nearly 3 lbs. in winter, but the increase has 

 occurred during the last month, when I have been taking more 

 exercise. Certainly there is every reason to be satisfied with the 

 general state of health. 



The ponies are becoming a handful. Three of the four 

 exercised to-day so far have run away Christopher and Snip- 

 pets broke away from Oates and Victor from Bowers. Nothing 

 but high spirits, there is no vice in these animals; but I fear 

 we are going to have trouble with sledges and snow-shoes. At 

 present the Soldier dare not issue oats or the animals would be- 

 come quite unmanageable. Bran is running low; he wishes he 

 had more of it. 



Tuesday, August 22. I am renewing study of glacier prob- 

 lems; the face of the ice cliff 300 yards east of the homestead 

 is full of enigmas. Yesterday evening Ponting gave us a lecture 

 on his Indian travels. He is very frank in acknowledging his 

 debt to guide-books for information, nevertheless he tells his 

 story well and his slides are wonderful. In personal reminiscence 

 he is distinctly dramatic he thrilled us a good deal last night 

 with a vivid description of a sunrise in the sacred city of 

 Benares. In the first dim light the waiting, praying multitude 

 of bathers, the wonderful ritual and its incessant performance; 

 then, as the sun approaches, the hush the effect of thousands 

 of worshippers waiting in silence a silence to be felt. Finally, 

 as the first rays appear, the swelling roar of a single word from 

 tens of thousands of throats: 'Ambah!' It was artistic to 

 follow this picture of life with the gruesome horrors of the 

 ghat. This impressionist style of lecturing is very attractive 

 and must essentially cover a great deal of ground. So we saw 

 Jeypore, Udaipore, Darjeeling, and a confusing number of 

 places temples, monuments and tombs in profusion, with re- 

 markable pictures of the wonderful Taj Mahal horses, ele- 

 phants, alligators, wild boars, and flamingoes warriors, fakirs, 

 and nautch girls an impression here and an impression there. 



