66 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [MAY 



Dickason has proved himself a most excellent cook and 

 baker, while the ' galley ' is a model of neatness. 



The following was our daily routine during the winter: 



At 7 A.M. we turned out, one hand going down to the ice 

 foot to get ice for cooking purposes. A number of empty 

 cases were kept full of ice in the ' lean to ' outside the hut for 

 use during blizzards when we could not get down to the ice 

 foot. Breakfast was at 8 A.M., and consisted of porridge, seal 

 steak or bacon, and tea. After breakfast we would turn to at 

 our various jobs and worked till i P.M., when we had a cold 

 lunch, bread and cheese and sometimes sardines, then work again 

 until 4 P.M., when we had tea. After tea we cleared up decks, 

 and then the rest of the day everyone had to himself. 



Dinner was at 7 P.M., and was usually seal or penguin, pud- 

 ding, and dessert. After dinner hardly a night passed without 

 a gramophone concert. 



Saturday morning was devoted to a good soap and water 

 scrub of the whole hut, everyone piling their belongings on 

 their beds, Saturday afternoon being ' made and mend.' 



Sunday breakfast was at 9 A.M. to give the cook a lie in, and 

 every week church was held at 10.30 A.M. 



In fine weather Sunday was a great day for a long walk, 

 either over the sea ice or up Cape Adare. 



During the week everyone had a washing day, when he 

 had a bath and washed his clothes, clothes lines being rigged 

 across the hut. 



Of the two huts left by Sir George Newnes' expedition in 

 1899, one hut was standing in fairly good condition, the other 

 was roofless. The former we repaired, and it made a very good 

 workshop, while the latter, after clearing out and roofing with 

 a tarpaulin, we turned into a store house. Taking it all round 

 we were a very happy and contented little community, but as 

 a wintering station Cape Adare is not good, being cut off from 

 the mainland until June, when the sea ice can be trusted not 

 to go out in a blizzard. 



The sea ice has been forming in Robertson Bay for the last 

 week, and now we are able to walk several miles to the south- 

 ward. To the northward of our beach is a lot of open water, 

 owing to the strong tidal streams off Cape Adare. 



On May 5 began our longest and hardest blow, lasting with 



