30 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [JULY 



more efficient heat for drying socks and other gear than was pos- 

 sible in the hut. The large open canvas roof of the hut allowed 

 all the heat to escape at once, but in the double tent the intense 

 heat of the blubber stove dried anything hung in the apex in a 

 very short time. 



We cooked our supper in the tent, nearly stifling ourselves 

 with the smoke, but the heating effect was immense. [The blub- 

 ber stove heated the oil so much that we expected every minute 

 that the whole would flare up. It took a lot of primus to start it. 

 We took our fmnesko in to try and dry them there with the rest 

 of the gear when we left. Bill and I however took our private 

 bags back into the igloo. After dinner we flensed one of the Em- 

 peror skins as hard as we could and boiled down the blubber in 

 the inner cooker very good stuff nearly filling the stove up.] 

 We then moved to the hut to sleep, believing it to be as safe 

 and as comfortable as it could be made until we got some cover- 

 ing for the roof, such as sealskins. When we turned in there was 

 practically no wind at all, but the sky was overcast. When I 

 turned out three or four hours later there was still no wind; 

 but it came on to blow suddenly soon after 3 A.M., and blew 

 heavily from the S. with little drift at first. 



Saturday, July 22, 1911. By 6.30 A.M. it was blowing force 

 9 to 10 from the S.S.W., with heavy drift and wind in strong 

 gusts, and when Bowers turned out he found the tent had disap- 

 peared, legs, lining, cover and all, leaving the cooker and all the 

 gear we had left in it over night on the ground. The drift was 

 now very thick and there was nothing to be done but to collect 

 the gear, which Bowers and Cherry did and passed it in to me in 

 the hut. Very little of the gear was lost. All our finnesko were 

 there and were recovered, as well as a quantity of smaller gear. 

 The only losses were the two flat parts of the cooker, which we 

 never found afterwards. 



[We were woken up by Birdie shouting through the door, 

 * Bill, Bill, the tent has gone.' I got out, helped Birdie, and 

 passed the gear which had been in the tent into the igloo, where 

 Bill took it. It was impossible to stand against the wind: Birdie 

 was blown right over; each time we got something it was a fight 

 to get the three or four yards to the igloo door: if the wind had 

 started us down the slope nothing would have stopped us. The 

 place where the tent had been was littered with gear. When we 



