250 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



binding strips. Then I cut out suitable portions, leaving 

 thereon the stencil of Beach's jams. I scrubbed them free of 

 strawberry jam, and then worried Day to give me a nice piece 

 of sealskin. This I pared down thin and soaked it in alum 

 over-night. Later I riveted it with bifurcated rivets from 

 Shackleton's hut, and the net result was interesting, if not 

 aesthetic ! 



" It is really the c long winter night ' now. I should say 

 the real darkness began about the 20th, but you can still see 

 to read outside at midday ! I nearly got frostbitten paring 

 that sealskin by candlelight in the outer storeroom. Only I 

 kept my fingers in the candle flame fairly frequently ! 



Birdie Bowers' lecture on Sledge Foods was very good. 



He poked fun at the " medical faculty " on every possible 

 occasion. I deplored the inability to speak with authority on 

 sledging rations, for in the west I had permitted our butter to 

 be eaten instead of leaving it in a depot, as the southern party 

 had done ! But the chief event was the appearance of 

 Debenham as an advocate for an official tobacco ration while 

 sledging, and when this was settled by the Owner, a fresh 

 argument on the relative values of tea and cocoa between 

 Birdie and Seaman Evans made more merriment. 



Late in May Ponting made some of his most picturesque 

 studies. On one occasion we marched out to the west over 

 the sea ice to photo the icebergs. We carried a lantern, and 

 were thus able to cross the numerous cracks in the sea ice 

 safely. There had been rather high tides lately, and these had 

 surged through the cracks and deposited a mushy layer, which 

 was apparently very salty and did not freeze very hard. We 

 could hear the shish, shish of Debenham's ski, but were un- 

 able to see him. Ponting had two huge cameras, and had 

 just set up his apparatus when Captain Scott, Gran, and 

 Bowers arrived. The Arch berg had weathered greatly, and 

 the top of the arch had caved in on the fifth with the noise 

 of an avalanche. The berg was rising out of the water and 

 had tilted up great cakes of sea ice. Ponting wanted a figure 

 in the picture, but one wondered if the berg would choose 

 that moment to overturn ! When the flash went off", how- 

 ever, I had moved over too far, and so no scale appeared to 

 give an idea of the gigantic mass of ice. 



The last day in May was characterized by a sharp blizzard. 



