INTRODUCTION lv 
Priestley continues : 
‘* After the arrival of the evicted party we made hoosh, 
and, as we warmed up from the meal, we cheered up and 
had one of the most successful sing-songs we had ever 
had, forgetting all our troubles for an hour or two. It is 
a pleasing picture to look back upon now, and, if I close 
my eyes, I can see again the little cave cut out in snow 
and ice with the tent flapping in the doorway, barely 
secured by ice-axe and shovel arranged crosswise against 
the side of the shaft. The cave is lighted up with three or 
four small blubber lamps, which give a soft yellow light. 
At one end lie Campbell, Dickason and myself in our 
sleeping-bags, resting after the day’s work, and, opposite 
to us, on a raised dais formed by a portion of the floor not 
yet levelled, Levick, Browning and Abbott sit discussing 
their seal hoosh, while the primus hums cheerily under the 
cooker containing the coloured water which served with 
us instead of cocoa. As the diners warm up jests begin to 
fly between the rival tents and the interchange is brisk, 
though we have the upper hand to-day, having an inex- 
haustible subject in the recent disaster to their tent, and 
their forced abandonment of their household gods. Sud- 
denly some one starts a song with a chorus, and the noise 
from the primus is dwarfed immediately. One by one we 
go through our favourites, and the concert lasts for a couple 
of hours. By this time the lamps are getting low, and 
gradually the cold begins to overcome the effects of the 
hoosh and the cocoa. One after another the singers begin 
to shiver, and all thoughts of song disappear as we realize 
what wearein for. A night with one one-man bag between 
two men! There is a whole world of discomfort in the 
very thought, and no one feels inclined to jest about that 
for the moment. Those jests will come all right to-morrow 
when the night is safely past, but this evening it is anything 
but a cheery subject of contemplation. There is no help for 
it, however, and each of us prepares to take another man in 
Solfar as he can.” 1 
In such spirit and under very similar conditions this 
1 Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, pp. 236-237. 
