314 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [November 



in the afternoon. Starting mildly, with broken clouds, little 

 snow, and gleams of sunshine, it grew in intensity until this 

 forenoon, when there was heavy snowfall and the sky over- 

 spread with low nimbus cloud. In the early afternoon the snow 

 and wind took off, and the wind is dropping now, but the sky 

 looks very lowering and unsettled. 



Last night the sky was so broken that I made certain the end 

 of the blow had come. Towards morning the sky overhead and 

 far to the north was quite clear. More cloud obscured the sun 

 to the south and low heavy banks hung over Ross Island. All 

 seemed hopeful, except that I noted with misgiving that the 

 mantle on the Bluff was beginning to form. Two hours later 

 the whole sky was overcast and the blizzard had fully developed. 



This Tuesday evening it remains overcast, but one cannot 

 see that the clouds are travelling fast. The Bluff mantle is a 

 wide low bank of stratus not particularly windy in appearance; 

 the wind is falling, but the sky still looks lowering to the south 

 and there is a general appearance of unrest. The temperature 

 has been io all day. 



The ponies, which had been so comparatively comfortable 

 in the earlier stages, were hit as usual when the snow began 

 to fall. 



We have done everything possible to shelter and protect 

 them, but there seems no way of keeping them comfortable 

 when the snow is thick and driving fast. We men are snug 

 and comfortable enough, but it is very evil to lie here and know 

 that the weather is steadily sapping the strength of the beasts 

 on which so much depends. It requires much philosophy to be 

 cheerful on such occasions. 



In the midst of the drift this forenoon the dog party came 

 up and camped about a quarter of a mile to leeward. Meares 

 has played too much for safety in catching us so soon, but it is 

 satisfactory to find the dogs will pull the loads and can be driven 

 to face such a wind as we have had. It shows that they ought 

 to be able to help us a good deal. 



The tents and sledges are badly drifted up, and the drifts 

 behind the pony walls have been dug out several times. I shall 

 be glad indeed to be on the march again, and oh! for a little 

 sun. The ponies are all quite warm when covered by their rugs. 

 Some of the fine drift snow finds its way under the rugs, and 



