SPRING 307 



trated as far north as Dunlop Island and turned back from 

 there on September 24, reaching Cape Evans on Septem- 

 ber 29, marching twenty-one miles (statute) into a blizzard 

 wind with occasional storms of drift and a temperature 

 of- 1 6°: and they marched a little too long; for a storm 

 of drift came against them and they had to camp. It is 

 never very easy pitching a tent on sea-ice because there 

 is not very much snow on the ice : on this occasion it was 

 only after they had detached the inner tent, which was fas- 

 tened to the bamboos, that they could hold the bamboos, 

 and then it was only inch by inch that they got the outer 

 cover on. At 9 p.m. the drift took off though the wind was 

 as strong as ever, and they decided to make for Cape Evans. 

 They arrived at 1.15 a.m. after one of the most strenuous 

 days which Scott could remember: and that meant a good 

 deal. Simpson's face was a sight ! During his absence 

 Griffith Taylor became meteorologist-in-chief. He was a 

 greedy scientist, and he also wielded a fluent pen. Conse- 

 quently his output during the year and a half which he 

 spent with us was large, and ranged from the results of 

 the two excellent scientific journeys which he led in the 

 Western Mountains, to this work during the latter half 

 of September. He was a most valued contributor to The 

 South Polar Times, and his prose and poetry both had a 

 bite which was never equalled by any other of our amateur 

 journalists. When his pen was still, his tongue wagged, 

 and the arguments he led were legion. The hut was a 

 merrier place for his presence. When the weather was 

 good he might be seen striding over the rocks with a 

 complete disregard of the effect on his clothes : he wore 

 through a pair of boots quicker than anybody I have ever 

 known, and his socks had to be mended with string. Ice 

 movement and erosion were also of interest to him, and 

 almost every day he spent some time in studying the slopes 

 and huge ice-cliffs of the Barne Glacier, and other points 

 of interest. With equal ferocity he would throw himself 

 into his curtained bunk because he was bored, or emerge 

 from it to take part in some argument which was troubling 

 the table. His diary must have been almost as long as the 



