I9II] BUILDING THE HUT 29 
I began the use of my eiderdown bag to-day inside 
the reindeer bag with the fur outside, and after this made 
no change till the day we reached Cape Evans again. 
Sunday, July 16, 191 1. — To-day looking over Ross 
Sea we saw a cloud of frost smoke drifting eastward 
along the Cape Crozier cliffs, evidently from an open 
lead along the coast. Otherwise the sea was covered by 
an unbroken sheet of ice. 
The temp, varied to-day between -20*8° and - 28"5^, 
and we again had the south-westerly breeze of force 3 
to 5 coming down our snow slope from Mt. Terror. The 
weather was clear in the morning, but became hazy with 
cirro-stratus and fog soon after noon from the south. 
We worked at the stone hut all the daylight and as 
long as we could see by the waning moonlight, and while 
Cherry built up the walls, Bowers and I collected rocks 
and piled up the outside of the walls with snow slabs 
and gravel. We had a pick and a shovel to work with. 
[It was quite a question what it was to be called : 
in his Diary Bill called it ^ Oriana Hut,' and the ridge 
the Oriana ridge : we discussed ' Terra Igloo,' ' Bleak 
House,' ' The House on the Hill.' 
Birdie gathered rocks from over the hill ; nothing 
was too big for him. Bill did the banking up outside. 
The stones were good ; the snow, however, was blown so 
hard as to be practically ice : a pick made little impression 
upon it, and the only way was to chip out big blocks 
gradually by the small shovel. 
There was now little moonlight or daylight, but for 
the next two days we used both to their utmost, being up 
