IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 265 



on my Jaeger coat, felt boots, two pairs of wool socks, wool 

 helmet, two jerseys, thin flannel shirt, and thick singlet, thick 

 underpants and thick corduroy trousers. By keeping my 

 feet up on a chair out of the cold ' floor air ' I keep com- 

 fortably warm, but will probably go into the kitchen galley. 



" 2.30 a.m. Just been putting in half an hour with the 

 confounded stove. I added compressed fuel at midnight, but 

 later found it nearly out. I've devoted one of my two 

 weekly candles to it, but it only flamed weakly. So I waked 

 Clissold. He says it's due to the cold ice I've just put in ; 

 but adds, c Let her rip ! ' So I don't care. The porridge 

 won't be properly cooked, but most of them like it so ! 



" I suppose the gramophone will be celebrating to-day. 

 They are fine records. I like the opening chorus to the 

 1 Dollar Princess ' best, though I can only hear the words 

 ' across the water,' but the minor key is O.K. Margaret 

 Cooper's ' 'Tis folly to run away from love' is the only 

 clear girl's voice. Robey on * Golf ' and * Prehistoric Man' 

 are very popular. Oates always calls for ' The Sergeant of 

 the Line ' and { Why should I marry at all ? ' Both are good 

 bass songs. The Anona-Banjo dance is fine. Meares likes 

 1 We all walked into the Shop,' while Gran prefers a Creole 

 wail, ' Ma Honey ' and ' Madam Butterfly,' which I can't 

 stick ! We have a few hymns, and the ' Night Hymn at 

 Sea ' is grand. 



" Debenham, Ponting, and Cherry (especially the latter) 

 are good at the pianola. It works usually from 5 to 6 and 

 12.30 to 1.30, while the gramophone runs from 8 to 9 if 

 there's no lecture. We don't have any sing-songs, and they 

 are really not needed with the three or four hundred tunes on 

 the two instruments. 



" I snoozed peacefully after my night watch till noon on 

 the 22nd. Then we had lunch, and Cherry produced the first 

 number of the South Polar Times and handed it to Captain Scott. 



" He had typed all the prose, and (cutting out alternate 

 pages from a day-book) had pasted the sheets in the book 

 between clean pages. There were fifty pages of typescript. 

 Then Day had bound it splendidly in Venesta board. It was 

 edged with sealskin, and he had cut a cameo monogram, S.P.T., 

 through the outer layer of venesta into the dark middle layer 

 of the three-ply boards. 



