282 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



see the sun for over a month, but over his position were belts 

 of crimson lake, dull red and green, with pale blue above. 



Sometimes the dogs would accompany us up the Ramp. 

 Atkinson and I went up to read Bertram on the 21st, while 

 Stareek and Tsigane trotted alongside. The latter is quite 

 sociable, while Stareek, one of the leaders, is one of the most 

 imperturbable. According to Atch, he has been seen admon- 

 ishing Tsigane for his undignified behaviour ! 



These walks were good exercise, but the weather was 

 getting colder (though mid-winter was past) and —25° was 

 quite common. My first occupation on reaching the Hut was 

 to go and hold my head over the stove. After some minutes 

 the lumps of frozen breath which surrounded my mouth would 

 melt somewhat, and I was able to free my beard from the 

 flannel of my helmet ! 



After Church service on the following Sunday (23rd), 

 Ponting gave an exhibition of cinema pictures in his dark 

 room. It was a very select show, as there was only room for 

 an audience of four ! His films were negatives, so that the 

 black and white were reversed. Under these circumstances 

 the seals appeared white and more slug-like than ever, while 

 the white shadows following the penguins were most uncanny. 

 While we were in the dark room Simpson called out that the 

 wind was still rising. It reached eighty-four miles per hour 

 at 8 p.m., which was the record during the first winter, though 

 this was easily beaten in 19 12. 



The 26th of July was a splendid day, and without doubt 

 marked the return of daylight. Simpson and I visited 

 Bertram and were able to read the thermometers without 

 recourse to fusees. We marched on the Erebus Glacier some 

 distance, and found numerous potholes in it, due to stones 

 sinking therein. On our return I continued plotting the 

 chart of the Koettlitz Glacier. Wright is obtaining interest- 

 ing results from his ice sections by " rubbings " of the ice 

 strise with a soft pencil. These photograph quite well. 



We were well stocked with books in the Hut. Almost 

 every officer had taken down some standard novels in addition 

 to a few text-books, and curiously enough there was very little 

 overlapping. For instance Cherry had a row of Kipling's 

 works which almost all of us appreciated, Day had Dickens, 

 Debenham had four or five poets, and more popular still — a 



