ioo SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [JULY 



pletely. We cleared the shaft, but as our chimney was buried in 

 drift, we could get no draught for the blubber fire, so we had to 

 build the chimney up with seal skin and snow blocks. All this 

 time the drift was perfectly blinding, although the stars were 

 showing overhead. 



That evening we had another ' no air ' scare, the primus 

 going out and lamps burning dimly until we had made air holes 

 with bamboos. I see we shall have to be careful in these 

 snowstorms. 



July 8. Still blowing hard, but not so much drift. We had 

 an awful job digging out, as the drift over our door was packed 

 quite hard. This storm has added 2 or 3 feet of hard snow to 

 our drift. It has made the hut much warmer, but has buried 

 our outside meat depot, and Priestley and I have been trying all 

 day to find it without success. 



July 10. A ' Red Letter ' day. As I was walking down to 

 Look Out Point I saw a seal up. It was getting late, so I re- 

 turned for the knives, and taking Abbott and Browning with 

 me, we ran down and found 2 fat seals. 



Abbott had only a short-handled ice-axe with him and had 

 a job to stun his seal. He made several mis-hits, and finally, as 

 the seal was making for the edge, he jumped on its back and 

 gave it a blow on the nose that stunned it. Abbott then got out 

 his knife and tried to stick the seal, but the handle was greasy, 

 and his hands cold, and they slipped up the blade, cutting three 

 fingers badly, so that I had to send him back to the hut, where 

 he arrived feeling very faint from loss of blood. It was quite 

 dark when Browning and I finished cutting up the seals. They 

 were in good condition, the blubber being very thick. It was 

 quite late by the time we got back, but we were able to have a 

 big hoosh, and we shall no longer have to be on half rations of 

 seal meat. We were running things uncomfortably close before. 

 We had six lumps of sugar in honour of the occasion. 



July 12. Abbott's fingers are badly hurt. Levick is afraid 

 the tendons are cut and that he will not be able to bend them 

 again. 



Browning and Dickason went for a walk to-day and killed 

 2 fat seals they found, so we had another double hoosh. The 

 rest of us spent to-day and yesterday depoting the meat from the 

 first two seals. 



