286 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



each night and cover themselves over with the floor cloth. 

 Luckily they found the tent a quarter of a mile away, just on 

 top of the sea cliff! They had camped just south of the big 

 cliff under which we had rowed in January, 191 1. 



" All the ice blew off the Ross Sea with the force of the 

 blizzard. They were only able to get down to the Emperor 

 penguins on one day. These were nesting — if such it can be 

 called — on a piece of old sea ice between the cliffs of Cape 

 Crozier and the high Barrier Ice. They had to crawl down 

 between the Barrier and the Rock Cliffs, and here Birdie stuck 

 as his clothes had frozen so stiff ! There were only a 

 hundred penguins there, instead of 1000 as they had expected. 

 They spent two hours getting down and could only carry 

 away six eggs, of which three broke. Cherry says his mits 

 were made warmer thereby ! The temperature was down 

 to — 77 F. (a sledging record) and often below — 6o° F. 

 Their sleeping bags froze stiff, and they couldn't roll them up, 

 while Cherry's was too big and never thawed except where he 

 touched it ; moreover, they tore badly when they were getting 

 into them. 



" On their return they could only make one mile on the 

 first day, and Birdie went down a crevasse to the length of 

 his harness. They managed to get him up by a bowline on 

 the alpine rope. On the last three nights Cherry said that no 

 one slept. They used to doze on the march and over their 

 meals, but were too cold in the bags. On emerging from 

 their tents they had to be careful to hold their heads as they 

 would bear them later, for their clothes froze and held them 

 like a coat of mail ! " 



About three miles to the south lay Tent Island ; so called 

 because in 1904 the men cutting a canal through the ice had 

 their tent there. Atkinson and I walked over there early in 

 August, to see if we could find his belt, which he had lost on 

 July 4th. I carried a plane table to continue my survey of 

 these islands. It was extraordinary to see footprints in the 

 gravel, which must have been made by Priestley in 1907, 

 though they looked as fresh as my own. 



We visited Clarence on our return, and found it to be 

 much less imposing than Archibald or Bertram. Merely a 

 little box at sea-level, containing two thermometers, but no 

 stand or cairn. It was getting gloomy and we just returned 



