CHAPTER VI 



MAKING WINTER QUARTERS AT CAPE EVANS 



On the morning of the 4th we carried out hawsers, and put 

 in ice anchors in the ice, over which so many journeys were 

 to be made in the next fortnight. Captain Scott, Evans, and 

 Dr. Wilson went off to choose a suitable site for the hut, and 

 returned very pleased with their brief survey. 



Let us look landward from the Terra Nova, and examine 

 the locality where the expedition will spend some six months 

 of the ensuing twelve. We are drawn close to the ice, which 

 stands about eight inches above the sea, and some eighteen 

 inches below water-level. It is variable in texture, that near 

 the ship being rather mushy and honeycombed below — while 

 several large cracks traverse it. Further away is a belt of 

 clear hard ice, and then bands of snow-covered and clear ice 

 for a mile or so, until the shore is reached. Here along the 

 western slope of Erebus extends a belt of the dark volcanic 

 rock, kenyte, and in consequence of the rapid heating of dark 

 objects by the continuous sunshine, this is largely free from 

 snow. Immediately at the shore-line is a belt of very soft 

 ice, fantastically honeycombed, and threaded by streams of 

 fresh water. Crossing a snow-bank, we rise slightly, and 

 reach the kenyte gravel on which our hut and the head- 

 quarters generally are placed. Walking along this gravel 

 slope, we come to a flowing stream, falling over a little water- 

 fall — a rarity, as may be imagined, in Antarctica. Moreover, 

 this stream rises in quite a respectable lake — which, if not 

 large enough for a regatta, at all events affords good exercise 

 in chasing the skua gulls, which have been attracted by the 

 open water. Continuing eastward, the steeper lower slopes 

 of Erebus are reached. The lower portions are of the same 

 dark eruptive rock ; but a few hundred feet from the sea- 



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