Chapter &im 



AROUND THE WINTER QUARTERS : 

 COMPLETION OF THE HUT 



ROM the door of our hut, which faced the north-west, 

 we commanded a splendid view of the sound and the 

 western mountains. Right in front of us, at our door, 

 lay a small lake, which came to be known as Pony Lake; 

 to the left of that was another sheet of ice that became 

 snow-covered in the autumn, and it was here in the dark 

 months that we exercised the ponies, and also ourselves. 

 Six times up and down the " Green Park," as it was 

 generally called, made a mile, and it was here, before 

 darkness came on, that we played hockey and football. 

 To the left of Green Park was a gentle slope leading down 

 between two cliffs to the sea, and ending in a little bay 

 known as Dead Horse Bay. On either side of this 

 valley lay the penguin rookery, the slopes being covered 

 with guano, and during the fairly high temperatures that 

 held sway up to April, the smell from these deserted 

 quarters of the penguins was extremely unpleasant. On 

 coming out of the hut one had only to go round the corner 

 of the building in order to catch a glimpse of Mount 

 Erebus, which lay directly behind us. Its summit was 

 about fifteen miles from our winter quarters, but its 

 slopes and foothills commenced within three-quarters of 

 a mile of the hut. Our view was cut off in all directions 

 from the east to the south-west by the ridge at the head 

 of the valley where the hut stood. On ascending this 

 ridge, one looked over the bay to the south-east, where 

 lay Cape Barne. To the right was Flagstaff Point, and 

 to the left lay, at the head of the Bay, the slopes of 



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