THE LAST WINTER 449 



and even the berg between Inaccessible Island and the 

 cape, were totally obscured in the thickest drift : the top 

 of the drift, which was very distinct, thinned to show dimly 

 the crest of Inaccessible Island : Turk's Head was visible 

 and Erebus quite clear. In fact I was just on the edge of 

 a thick blizzard, blowing down the Strait, the side showing 

 as a perpendicular wall about 500 feet high and travelling, 

 I should say, about 40 miles an hour. A roar came out 

 from it of the wind and waves. 



The weather conditions were extraordinarily local, as 

 another experience will show. Atkinson and Dimitri were 

 off to Hut Point with the dogs, carrying biscuit and pem- 

 mican for the coming Search Journey : I went with them 

 some way, and then left them to place a flag upon the end 

 of Glacier Tongue for surveying purposes. It was clear 

 and bright, and it was easy to get a sketch of the bearings 

 of the islands from this position, which showed how great 

 a portion of the Tongue must have broken off in the 

 autumn of 191 1. I anticipated a pleasant walk home, but 

 was somewhat alarmed when heavy wind and drift came 

 down from the direction of the Hutton Cliffs. Wearing 

 spectacles, and being unable to see without them, I managed 

 to steer with difficulty by the sun which still showed dimly 

 through the drift. It was amazing suddenly to walk out of 

 the wall of drift into light airs at Little Razorback Island. 

 One minute it was blowing and drifting hard and I could 

 see almost nothing, the next it was calm, save for little 

 whirlwinds of snow formed by eddies of air drawn in from 

 the north. In another three hundred yards the wind was 

 blowing from the north. On this day Atkinson found 

 wind force 8 and temperature - 1 7° at Hut Point : at 

 Cape Evans the temperature was zero and men were sit- 

 ting on the rocks and smoking in the sun. Many instances 

 might be given to show how local our weather conditions 

 often were. 



There was a mprning some time in the middle of the 

 winter when we awoke to one of our usual tearing bliz- 

 zards. We had had some days of calm, and the ice had 

 frozen sufficiently for the fish-trap to be lowered again. 



2 G 



