i 9 ] SHORT RATIONS 87 



places. The snow was soon so thick that the sledge was com- 

 pletely buried with drift and the tent three-quarters hidden. 



During most of this fortnight we were living on one meal 

 a day, and on this day we were unable even to get this, so that 

 by the 29th, when the wind eased for a day or two, we were in 

 no wise in a condition to look forward with equanimity to the 

 chance of a winter without sufficient food or decent shelter; in 

 fact so weak were we that a walk of a mile or two tired us 

 far more than a hard day's sledging had done a month before. 



Perhaps the worst feature in our present position, however, 

 is the absence of any news from our comrades, and the fear 

 which is naturally growing within us, lest the ship should have 

 got into some trouble during this heavy weather. 



February 29. The wind dropped in the morning, and we 

 had our first fine day since the I5th. In the afternoon we pulled 

 over and camped on the island south of the Moraine, which 

 we have named Inexpressible Island. In the evening after 

 hoosh we climbed ' Lookout ' Hill, and saw what we thought was 

 smoke on the horizon, and under it a small black speck. Un- 

 fortunately, it turned out to be only an iceberg with a cloud 

 behind it, showing dark under a snow-squall. 



Soon after the wind and snow recommenced. 



March i. The weather cleared at 10 A.M. I had decided 

 to start killing seals for the winter to-day if there was no sign 

 of the ship, so after seeing no sign of anything from Look-out 

 Hill, we killed and cut up two seals and eighteen penguins. 



There are very few of the former up, and seals hate wind, 

 so we must pray for fine weather to stock our larder, as the 

 animals seldom leave the water in the winter. 



March 2 to 4. It came on to blow hard in the night of 

 the ist, and continued blowing steadily for the next three days. 



The gale reached its height on the 3rd, when the tent split 

 and we had to shift camp on to a snowdrift, where we could 

 raise a bit of a snow wall. These last three days we have been 

 lying in our wet bags, watching the tent poles bend and quiver 

 as each squall strikes the tent, and speculating as to what can 

 have happened to the ship. 



We also feel having only two biscuits a day and an insuffi- 

 cient supply of seal meat. We are hungry both for news of the 

 Southern Party and for more food. 



