204 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



ramp. The ice was in layers alternating with snow, the former 

 probably representing spray-cemented snow. Soon the sea 

 ice cracked under the weight of our delta, and the latter sank 

 more and more. It was like filling the ocean, and at 7 p.m. 

 only a few jagged blocks showed where we had piled all our 

 excavated material. 



We had some of our penguin for supper. He weighed 

 92 lbs., and was about a record. 



The " pseudo-scientists " were keen collectors. Some 

 augite crystals being found on the side of Observation Hill — 

 we geologists did not strain our consciences much by assuring 

 them that they were gems ! As a matter of fact, I once wore 

 an augite as a stud ; but it would only appeal to a geologist. 

 However, Birdie and Cherry spent several hours crawling up 

 the slopes of the hill. The augites took much finding, for 

 they were rarely half an inch long. " Dry-blowing " and 

 scraping in the snow and ashy rock with frozen fingers and 

 colder toes was the method of work. Some of the specimens 

 picked out of a red tuff showed very pretty crystal faces. 

 But the mineral is nearly black and rather brittle, so that their 

 value is purely scientific. 



One morning we were promised a new dish of " whales 

 on toast " by the indefatigable chefs. These were biscuits 

 fried in butter and crowned with two sardines. Unfortunately 

 they all got burnt, and the many requests for biscuits 

 au naturel disconcerted Birdie ! In the evening Evans and 

 Wright laboured long at a dish which they finally labelled 

 " glue " in disgust, though they had hoped it would turn out 

 a stew. So Meares enlivened the gloom by a yarn. " A man 

 went into a shop in our town and took off an article on 

 approval. Unfortunately he left no name. The assistant 

 said, l Whom shall we charge it to ? ' The proprietor said, 

 4 Put it down on every one's bill, and we'll soon find out who 

 didn't take it.' " Meares stopped, and we asked, " Well, how 

 did it work ? " " Oh, the last I heard, forty of them had paid 

 for it ! " 



On the 7th, Scott asked if any one wanted a walk round 

 the sea ice to Castle Rock. Atkinson and I volunteered, and 

 we got on our crampons and steig-eisen^ and I took an ice-axe. 

 We went down to the sea-ice over the ice clifF, using the old 

 hawser left there in 1903. The ice was about four and a half 



