68 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [August 
of cold air pouring from the Barrier on to the sea ice, 
so we camped about loo yards away to be out of it 
and had lunch. The temp, here was -43°. The sledge- 
meter now showed 38 miles from our camp in the Knoll 
gap at Cape Crozier. From this point to Hut Point 
was 3 miles, and it was again an excellent hardened 
smooth snow surface all the way to Cape Armitage, and 
rather the same rough, crunchy sea ice, with very few 
snow-covered patches, from Cape Armitage to Hut 
Point. 
By the time we reached the hut the sky had become 
completely overcast and the temp, had gone up to - 27°. 
It was still quite calm, and the sky cleared again during 
the night. We camped at the hut. [The last day we 
had been using our oil to warm ourselves, since we had 
a half-tin left, having used the first half very sparingly. 
Birdie made a bottom for the cooker out of an empty 
biscuit-tin, which was most successful. We cooked on 
Bill's bag in the middle, generally one of us steadying 
the cooker with his hands. 
It used to be quite a common experience to spill some 
water or hoosh on to our bags as they lay on the floor- 
cloth. This did not worry us, since it was practically 
impossible for our bags to be wetter than they were. 
During the last four days Birdie quite often fell asleep 
as he was marching; I do not know that Bill ever did 
this. I never did so till the last day, when for about 
an hour I was falling asleep constantly as we marched 
along — waking when I came up against Bill or Birdie,] 
Tuesday^ A tigust i , 1 9 1 1 . — In the hut we pitched 
