362 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



that the tongue is floating. It is broken into deep lateral 

 bays, and consists of regular rolls and hollows. I don't 

 believe that storms affect this harbour much, or it would have 

 gone out long ago. We pitched the tent on soft snow, just 

 off the end. I got ice from the glacier for the cooker, which 

 Forde declared was salty from old sea spray. Anyhow, the 

 hoosh was very good." 



Far to the west we could see a huge black mountain 

 projecting ithrough the Mackay Glacier. It was formed of 

 black dolerite capping granite, and reminded me of a three- 

 cornered Chinese junk. Debenham objected to this name as 

 being unworthy of such a fine nunatak, and proposed Gondola 

 Mountain. We knew it by this name during our expedition, 

 but on my return to Sydney I discovered that Professor 

 David had seen it from the coast, and had called it Mount 

 Suess. So Mount Suess displaces Debenham's euphonious 

 title. 



" The sky looked very ugly — the sun dimly glaring through 

 gloomy clouds — a low, thick, dark bank on the eastern horizon, 

 and the barometer falling half an inch in the twelve hours. 

 So far nothing has happened, but now (10.30 p.m.) snow has 

 just begun, and may keep on some time ; for I see, from the 

 log, that we had similar conditions at Harbour Tongue on 

 the 28th. The temperature is + 23 , and we are very com- 

 fortable ; for though we are on sea-ice, yet we can reach the 

 glacier in twenty yards, and there is twenty miles of ice 

 between us and the open water." 



I am going to copy my notes, for the next few days, 

 verbatim, for they give a fairly complete account of a typical 

 summer blizzard in Antarctica. If the language seems a trifle 

 strong, the circumstances should be considered. 



" Wednesday, December 6, 191 1. — 10 a.m. We are held up 

 in our first violent blizzard, and it is just a month since we 

 started. We have had snow blizzards, but this has wind force 

 about 7 as well, and the drift is thick and wetting. 



"We have a pretty snug camp on snow, one foot thick, 

 which you can accommodate to your hip-bone, but which it 

 is difficult to stand the Primus upon (especially as the cooker 

 base, on which it usually rests, is full of fat, and is now our 

 frying pan at the hut). It started snowing about midnight, 

 and clothed the tent by 3 a.m. I woke to hear the tent 



