i 9 o 3 ] LOW SUMMER TEMPERATURES 193 



these disappeared, and we struggled over a sea of broken and 

 distorted snow-waves. We were like a small boat at sea : at 

 one moment appearing to stand still to climb some wave, and 

 at the next diving down into a hollow. It was distressing 

 work, but we stuck to it, though not without frequent capsizes, 

 which are likely to have a serious effect on our stock of oil, for 

 I fear a little is lost with each upset.' 



Regularly each night, when the sun was low in the south, 

 the temperature fell to — 40 or below, whilst during the 

 marching hours it rarely rose much above — 25 , and with 

 this low temperature we had a constant wind. At first it blew 

 from the W. by S., and it was in this direction that most of the 

 hard high sastrugi pointed, but we noticed that it was gradually 

 creeping to the southward. Before we left the plateau it had 

 gone to S.W. by W., and now and again it became still more 

 southerly and brought a light snowfall which formed fresh 

 waves in the new direction. 



There can be little doubt, I think, that the wind blows 

 from west to east across this plateau throughout the winter, 

 and often with great violence, as the high snow- waves showed. 

 What the temperature can be at that season is beyond guess- 

 ing, but if the thermometer can fall to — 40 in the height of 

 summer, one can imagine that the darker months produce a 

 terrible extremity of cold. 



On November 26 I wrote : 'The wind is the plague of our 

 lives. It has cut us to pieces. We all have deep cracks in our 

 nostrils and cheeks, and our lips are broken and raw; our 

 fingers are also getting in a shocking state ; one of Evans's 

 thumbs has a deep cut on either side of the nail which might 

 have been made by a heavy slash with a knife. We can do 

 nothing for this as long as we have to face this horrid wind. 

 We suffer most during the first half-hour of the morning march 

 before we have warmed up to the work, as then all these sore 

 places get frost-bitten. There is a good deal of pain also in the 

 tent at night, and we try to keep our faces as still as possible ; 

 laughing is a really painful process, and so from this point of 

 view jokes are not to be encouraged. The worst task of all is 

 vol. 11. o 



