THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



strong blizzard. We pulled in against this with great 

 difficulty for half an hour, then camped at the foot of 

 the slope. The blizzard with its heavy drift snow 

 and the occasional gleams of warm sunshine cast much 

 drift over our tent with accompanying thaw. Con- 

 sequently inside the tent water dripped heavily all 

 over our clothing and sleeping-bag. Fortunately we 

 were just above the level of the thaw water of the 

 small lakes, but we could hear water trickling close 

 underneath our tent amongst the granite boulders of the 

 moraines just under the ice. 



We were able now to economise fuel, as we could 

 bale the water out of these rock pools and streams for 

 making our hoosh, tea and cocoa. All that night the 

 blizzard raged, and we thought any moment that the 

 tent would be ripped up from top to bottom. It was 

 getting very thin by this time and had already been 

 frequently repaired by Mackay and Mawson. On this 

 occasion several new rents started from near the top of 

 the tent and spread downwards. Moreover, the canvas 

 cap of our tent was broken by the force of the wind 

 and the pressure of the drift snow. 



The following day, about 7 a.m., I got up and dug 

 away the drift snow from the lee side of the tent, which 

 was cramping our feet and legs, and found that it was 

 still snowing heavily outside, and blowing hard as well. 

 In the afternoon the blizzard slacked off somewhat, 

 and the drift nearly ceased. We got up accordingly and 

 had a meal. We halved our sledge load, repacked 

 the sledge, and by dint of great exertions dragged it 

 up the steep snow and ice slope to a height of 800 ft. 

 above the sea. This was done in the teeth of a mild but 

 freshening blizzard. The blizzard at last got too strong 

 for us, so that we left the load at the altitude mentioned 

 and returned back to our tent with the empty sledge. 



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