THE LAST WINTER 445 



" Saturday ', June 8. The weather changes since the 

 night before last have been, luckily for us, uncommon. 

 Thursday evening a strong northerly wind started with 

 some drift, and this increased during the night until it blew 

 over forty miles an hour, the temperature being - 2 2°. A 

 strong wind from the north is rare, and generally is the 

 prelude of a blizzard. This northerly wind fell towards 

 morning, and the day was calm and clear, the temperature 

 falling until it was - 33 at 4 p.m. The barometer had 

 been abnormally low during the day, being only 28.24 

 at noon. Then at 8 p.m. with the temperature at - 36 , this 

 blizzard broke, and at the same time there was a big up- 

 ward jump of the barometer, which seemed to mark the 

 beginning of the blizzard much more than the thermo- 

 meter, which did not rise much. The wind during the 

 night was very high, blowing 72 and 66 miles an hour, for 

 hours at a time, and has not yet shown any sign of diminish- 

 ing. Now, after lunch, the hut is straining and creaking, 

 while a shower of stones rattles at intervals against it : the 

 drift is generally very heavy." 



" Sunday, June 9. The temperature has been higher, 

 about zero, during the day, and the blizzard shows no 

 signs of falling yet. The gusts are still of a very high velo- 

 city. A large quantity of ice to the north seems to have gone 

 out : at any rate our narrow strip along the front, which 

 is so valuable to us, will probably be permanent now." 



" Monday, June 10. A most turbulent day. It is very 

 hard to settle down to do anything, read or write, with 

 such a turmoil outside, the hut shaking until we begin 

 to wonder how long it will stand such winds. Most of the 

 time the wind is averaging about sixty miles an hour, but 

 the gusts are far greater, and at times it seems that some- 

 thing must go. Just before lunch I was racking my brains 

 to write an Editorial for the South Polar Times, and had 

 congratulated ourselves on having the sea-ice which is still 

 in North Bay. As we were having lunch Nelson came in 

 and said, 'The thermometers have gone!' All the ice in 

 North Bay has gone. The part immediately next to the 

 shore, which has now been in so long, and which was over 



