98 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



non-scientific members in our little waterfall. They were 

 white spherical objects, two millimetres wide, which could be 

 peeled like an onion, and each seemed to enclose a little pearl. 

 But Lillie identified them as crystalline lenses from the eyes 

 of Notothenia, which were the only things found indigestible 

 by the omnivorous skua gull, and so accumulated in the stream 

 near their nests. 



Both ends of the berg tunnel were fringed by beautiful 

 icicles, many being branched almost as much as the famous 

 Jewish candlestick. The exterior of the berg on the more 

 gently sloping side was armoured with a panoply of plough- 

 shares projecting horizontally, and due probably to the sun 

 melting the surface differentially, as described in the case of 

 the sea-ice. It was unpleasant to climb, and a fall would have 

 precipitated one into a most uninviting pool. As we watched 

 it two killer-whales rose to the surface, and " blew off steam " 

 through their dorsal spouts. They moved towards the south, 

 under the solid ice, and we could see them long after spout- 

 ing occasionally along a narrow open crack leading in that 

 direction. 



We were very fortunate in our weather at this time. 

 Bright calm days, so warm that one could sit outside in the 

 lee of a pile of fodder after lunch — as many of us did — and 

 enjoy a short siesta. From the first day work was carried 

 on busily at the hut. The foundation was excellent, for the 

 surface all round our camp consists of kenyte gravel, on which 

 the snow melts as soon as the sun strikes it ; which is porous, 

 so that water will not lie on it ; and finally, is so springy that 

 our food-cases were not damaged, however heavily they were 

 dumped on the gravel. The main timbers were prepared 

 long before we left New Zealand, and most of the matchboard 

 was cut to size, tied in bundles, and roughly labelled. The 

 floor area is fifty feet by twenty-five feet, and the roof is quite 

 plain, with a central ridge. Three small windows, permanently 

 shut, and with doubled panes, admit sufficient light in summer ; 

 while later on an elaborate acetylene plant will come into use. 

 Of greater interest were the precautions to keep out the cold. 

 Vertical tongue and groove matchboard was nailed both out- 

 side and inside the framework, an air-space thus being enclosed 

 between them. Next, a layer of a patent quilted seaweed 

 material, made of sea-grass sewn into jute sacking, was tacked 



