IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 233 



Sunny Jim awoke at four. Finds something wrong with the 

 ice grotto lamp, but has gone off to sleep. The temperature 

 in here is +49 F. There is bread and butter, sardines, and 

 possibly cocoa awaiting me. Clocks tick everywhere, and 

 wriggles and snores are universal. I am yawning my 

 head off." 



Later. — " I turned in at 7 a.m., so ending my first watch, 

 and stayed till 1 1 a.m. cutting breakfast." 



I helped Cherry to build a stone hut on the beach 

 before lunch. The weather was quite calm, and yet before 

 we had finished the meal there was a furious blizzard blowing 

 up to fifty-six miles an hour — gale strength being thirty-eight 

 miles. It lasted just twelve hours, but the sudden rise was 

 very characteristic. 



One morning Captain Scott summoned a council of Dr. 

 Bill, Teddy Evans, and myself to christen officially the main 

 features of our winter quarters. The officers who had spent 

 the summer on the Cape had already named some of the 

 beaches and lakes. Teddy Evans had started surveying, and 

 fixed stations on outlying points, while the geologists had 

 cruised about the moraines to the east and so had some 

 knowledge of the topography there. Land's End and Seal 

 Rock for southern features were agreed to. The two lakes 

 kept Nelson's names of Skua Lake and Island Lake. The 

 hill where the screens stood was changed from Vane Hill to 

 Windvane Hill. North Bay and South Bay were obvious, if 

 not novel. Oates's pursuits were considered in the names of 

 the lowlands near the hut, for these were named The Paddock 

 and The Course. I begged that the rugged crest across the 

 S.W. be called the " Backbone," but I never heard any 

 one use the term ! Finally the steep scarp 1 50 feet high and 

 continuous from High Cliff to Gully Bay came up for discus- 

 sion. Scott said, " Now this is why I summoned you, Taylor. 

 What do they call this in Physiography ? " I could think of 

 nothing but " scarp " ; but Scott gave it the euphonious name 

 of the Ramp. "Going up the Ramp " was one of the com- 

 monest remarks during the succeeding months. Part of the 

 Ramp to the north was a sheet of snow and ice, and for this I 

 suggested Slippery Slope ; while, later, a series of steps I cut 

 up the face was known as the Golden Stairs ! 



Later in the day Wright and I filled a balloon which 



