46 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [AUGUST 



or hoosh on to our bags as they lay on the floorcloth. This did 

 not worry us, since it was practically impossible for our bags to 

 be wetter than they were. 



During the last four days Birdie quite often fell asleep as 

 he was marching; I do not know that Bill ever did this. I 

 never did so till the last day when for about an hour I was fall- 

 ing asleep constantly as we marched along waking when I came 

 up against Bill or Birdie.] 



Tuesday, August i, 1911. In the hut we pitched the dome 

 tent and lit a primus to warm it while we cooked our supper. 

 We had thus a much more comfortable night than the blubber 

 stove could have given us. 



[The hut struck us as fairly warm; we could almost feel it 

 getting warmer as we went round C. Armitage. We managed 

 to haul the sledge up the ice foot. We pitched the dome tent 

 in the place where Crean used to sleep and got both primus going 

 in it for there was plenty of oil there, and we got it really 

 warm, and drank cocoa without sugar so thick that next morn- 

 ing we were gorged with it. We were very happy, falling asleep 

 between each mouthful. After some hours of this we discussed 

 several schemes of not getting into our bags at all, but settled 

 it was best to do so.] 



We had three hours in our bags and turned out at 3 A.M., 

 hoping to make an early start to get into Cape Evans before 

 dinner-time. But a strong easterly wind got up and prevented 

 our start, so we continued to doze in the tent as we sat there, in 

 preference to being in our bags. 



At 9.30 A.M. the wind dropped, and we got away at n, but 

 met with a very cold breeze off the land on rounding Hut Point. 

 We walked out of it, however, in a mile or so by getting into the 

 open, and then made a straight course all the way for Cape 

 Evans, deciding not to camp for lunch until we had passed the 

 broken ice off the end of Glacier Tongue by daylight. This took 

 us 53^2 hours, and we camped at 4.30 P.M., exactly 8 miles from 

 Hut Point. 



The surface was varied, and we were a mile or so farther 

 out all the way on this our return journey than on our outward 

 journey, so it differed rather from the surface we had then. 



After leaving Hut Point we had very rough, rubbly sea ice 

 with no snow worth mentioning for two or three miles. What 



