i9l ANCIENT SEAWEED 89 



There is plenty of work for all hands, for besides collecting 

 the seals and penguins we have had to carry over our equip- 

 ment, such as it is, and the provisions from our depot at Hell's 

 Gate to the site of the snow cave on Inexpressible Island, while 

 three or four of us are usually at work there with pick and 

 shovel. 



We have selected a hard drift under the lee of a small hill 

 and have commenced burrowing into it, using two short-handled 

 ice-axes of Priestley's. It is slow work, but after a few hours 

 we had a sheltered place to work in and made better progress. 



We have also been experimenting on a blubber reading lamp 

 and are, I think, on a fair way to success. 



March 16. Blowing hard all day, very cold. Our bags and 

 all gear are covered with drift. The outlook is not very cheerful. 

 We are evidently in for a winter here, under very hard condi- 

 tions. When we can be out and working things are not so bad, 

 but lying in our bags covered with drift, with nothing to do but 

 speculate as to what has happened to the ship, is depressing. 

 We are using salt water in our hoosh and some bleached and 

 decayed seaweed from a raised beach, which we try to imagine 

 is like cabbage. Priestley says he would not object to fresh sea- 

 weed, but cannot induce himself to include prehistoric seaweed 

 in our regular ration. 



March 17. Still blowing, but clear, so after breakfast we 

 struck camp, and started carrying our gear to the hut. The 

 distance is only I mile, but over a chaos of big boulders which 

 are the cause of many falls. Our boots have given out and 

 finnesko would not last a day on such surface. Before we had 

 got all our gear over, it came on to blow harder than ever, 

 the squalls bringing small pebbles along with them, and we were 

 several times taken off our feet and blown down. 



Luckily no one was damaged, although we all got pretty 

 well frostbitten. It was a great relief to get into our finished hut 

 out of the wind. 



We were all dead tired, and turned in directly after hoosh. 



March 18. Our first night in the hut was cold, as we have 

 no door yet and no insulation; in fact, it will take at least two 

 days' more work to make it big enough for us, but it is a shelter 

 from the wind, which we can hear roaring outside. We spent 

 the day chipping away at the ice walls and floor. As a matter 



