i 9 02] PROGRESS OF WINTER PREPARATIONS 211 



can never tell. If it breaks now, we shall be in a very uncom- 

 fortable position, as both our boilers are run out and the 

 engines are in pieces. A party with two large sledges and the 

 dogs brought back eleven seals to-day, and will bring in some 

 more to-morrow, so that we are now getting pretty secure for 

 our winter stock. 



'The work of getting comfortably settled is progressing. 

 The winter awning is spread ; it did not fit at all well, and we 

 were obliged to make several alterations. It is made of a 

 thick, rough, flaxen material, called, I think, " waggon cloth," 

 which I was at great pains to get, on advice. I believe we 

 should have done better to have had it made of ordinary stout 

 canvas. The winter awning ends at the mainmast, but we pro- 

 pose to construct a further covered way aft to the engine-room 

 with our summer awnings and odd pieces of canvas. There 

 will probably be a good deal of work in the engine-room during 

 the winter, and it is well to have complete shelter to and from 

 it. With the awning spread over the living spaces, we are 

 obliged to use artificial light all day ; but we should get little 

 enough natural light even if the awning were not there. 



' The men are building a snow-bank for our gangway, and 

 another at the ice-foot to make a road to the hut; but the 

 difficulty at present is to get snow. None has fallen recently, 

 and that on the land is hard and icy. As our awning would 

 not spread well over the boats, we have got them out, and 

 hauled them over towards the ice-foot. They are now ranged 

 in a line close to it, and there, it is to be hoped, they will 

 remain safely during the winter.' 



This latter step with regard to the boats was a fatal error, 

 and afterwards gave us a vast amount of labour and trouble. 

 It was yet another case in which we had to buy our experience 

 sadly. Our principal anxiety had been to find a place where 

 they would not be exposed to the full force of the winter gales, 

 and we never thought of the danger which actually overtook 

 them. It was not until the middle of the winter that we 

 realised that what had been the surface of the ice was, under 

 the weight of newly fallen snow, gradually sinking below the 



