THE FIRST WINTER 181 
ined for the first time by an expert physiographer and ice 
specialist. The ordinary routine of scientific and meteoro- 
logical observations usual with all Scott’s sledging parties 
was observed. 
Further, at Cape Evans there had beenrunning for more 
than three months a scientific station, which rivalled in 
thoroughness and exactitude any other such station in the 
world. I hope that later a more detailed account may be 
given of this continuous series of observations, some of 
them demanding the most complex mechanism, and all of 
them watched over by enthusiastic experts. It must here 
suffice to say that we who on our return saw for the first 
time the hut and its annexes completely equipped were 
amazed; though perhaps the gadget which appealed most 
to us at first was the electric apparatus by which the cook, 
whose invention it was, controlled the rising of his excellent 
bread. 
Glad as we were to find it all and to enjoy the food, 
bath and comfort which it offered, we had no illusions 
about Cape Evans itself. It is uninteresting, as only a low- 
lying spit of black lava covered for the most part withsnow, 
and swept constantly by high winds and drift, can be un- 
interesting. The kenyte lava of which it is formed is a 
remarkable rock, and is found in few parts of the world: 
but when you have seen one bit of kenyte you have seenall. 
Unlike the spacious and lofty Hut Point Peninsula, thirteen 
miles to the south, it has no outstanding hills and craters ; 
no landmarks such as Castle Rock. Unlike the broad 
folds of Cape Royds, six miles to the north, it has noneof the 
rambling walks and varied lakes, in which is found most 
of the limited plant life which exists in these latitudes, 
and though a few McCormick skuas meet here, there is 
no nursery of penguins such as that which makes Cape 
Royds so attractive in summer. Nor has the Great Ice 
Sheet, which reached up Erebus and spread over the Ross 
Sea in the past, spilled over Cape Evans in its retreat a 
wealth of foreign granites, dolerites, porphyrys and sand- 
stone such as cover the otherwise dull surface round 
Shackleton’s old Winter Quarters. 
