THE METEOROLOGICAL STATION 



The dog kennels were placed close to the porch of the 

 hut, but only three of the dogs were kept constantly 

 chained up. The meteorological station was on the 

 weather side of the hut on the top of a small ridge, about 

 twenty feet above the hut and forty feet above sea- 

 level, and a natural path led to it. Adams laid it out, 

 and the regular readings of the instruments began on 

 March 22. The foundation of the thermometer screen 

 consisted of a heavy wooden case resting on rocks. 

 The case was three-quarters filled with rock, and round 

 the outside were piled more blocks of kenyte ; the crevices 

 between them were filled with volcanic earth on to 

 which water was poured, the result being a structure as 

 rigid as the ground itself. On each side of the box a 

 heavy upright was secured by the rocks inside the case 

 and by bolts at the sides, and to these uprights the actual 

 meteorological screen, one of the Stevenson pattern and 

 of standard size, was bolted. As readings of the instru- 

 ments were to be taken day and night at intervals of 

 two hours, and as it was quite possible that the weather 

 might be so thick that a person might be lost in making 

 his way between the screen and the hut, a line was rigged 

 up on posts which were cemented into the ground by ice, 

 so that in the thickest weather the observer could be sure 

 of finding his way by following this very substantial 

 clue. 



