154 British Antarctic Expedition. 
reading, playing chess, and cards, were very valuable 
pastimes during this period, when work did not 
require the full concentration of our minds; and 
occasionally we started, purposely, minor quarrels, 
when we found that a change was necessary, and 
I. found the truth of the French proverb, “Les 
extrémes se touchent”; it was easier to bring a 
weighed-down mind to a beneficial laugh after such 
little quarrel than before. 
1 remember well how welcome a discussion was 
started when we no longer could write Eighteen 
Hundred, and the question arose as to when the new 
century began, whether at the beginning of r9oo or 
1901. With the utmost care I invented fresh argu- 
ments in favour of the losing side, only for the 
purpose of keeping a desirable dispute going. 
From the Southern Cross we brought a musical 
box on shore with us, but we soon came to know 
its répertoire so well that we preferred for the time 
to have it silent; and when we again set it going 
it had become rusty, and played hymns when a 
valse was required, and vice versé. In the limited 
space we had at our disposal it must be clearly 
understood that only exceptional precautions could 
prevent serious difficulties. Those who suffered 
least from the darkness were undoubtedly the 
Finns, who, from their homes in the north, were 
accustomed to it, but even these two changed con- 
siderably during the dark time. All of us were 
somewhat affected by the slow action of the heart. 
In the great cold, and depending upon the tinned 
food, the circulation. became very slow, and repeat- 
edly I had the same feeling as when I had lain 
d ‚ d 
