98 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION UUNE 



serve out from time to time. Our new hatch works well, and 

 although it gets covered up, it keeps the shaft from getting 

 blocked with snow, while the bamboo in the chimney keeps us 

 an air hole. 



June 12. The wind moderated to-day, and we were able 

 to get out for sea ice and meat, and also a fresh store of bones 

 from the old carcases of seals which we make use of in our 

 blubber stoves. 



June 16.- Being Sunday we get twelve lumps of sugar and 

 have two tabloids of ginger each. These chewed up with sugar 

 and a little imagination give us preserved ginger. The weather 

 during the week has been thick with snow when it has not been 

 blowing, but we have given up hoping for good weather, and if 

 we can get a lull every few days to bring up sea ice and blubber, 

 we shall not worry. 



June 20. The wind eased a little to-day, and I got out for 

 a walk, but soon came in with a frostbitten nose. Our wind 

 clothes are torn and so rotten with blubber that we have to be 

 constantly mending them. The grease makes any snow or drift 

 stick to them, and brushing them when we come in from a walk 

 is a long business. We are feeling very excited about the feast 

 on Midwinter Day, and have been discussing the menu for some 

 time. It will consist of liver hoosh and biscuits, four sticks of 

 chocolate, twenty-five raisins, and a sip of Wincarnis each. 



June 22. Midwinter Day. The weather was seasonable: 

 pitch dark, with wind and a smothering drift outside. We woke 

 up early, and being too impatient to wait longer, turned out, 

 and for breakfast had our first full hoosh. In the evening 

 we had another followed by cocoa with sugar in it, then four 

 citric acid and two ginger tabloids, finishing up the evening with 

 a sing-song and a little tobacco, which had been saved for the 

 occasion. In addition four biscuits and four sticks of chocolate 

 were served out, so that we retired to bed with full stomachs 

 once again, and some of us have even saved a bite or two for 

 to-morrow. 



After Midwinter Day time passed more quickly, and the 

 knowledge that every day the sun was approaching us cheered 

 us immensely. During the next month we have to celebrate no 

 less than three birthdays, and each with its accompanying slight 



