98 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [May 
lasting with occasional lulls until the 14th. The morning 
was overcast, with a cold southerly wind, and when I was 
out for a walk with Levick we both eot our noses frost- 
o 
bitten. In the evening a strong gale blew with drift, and 
between i and 4 a.m. on the 6th the squalls were of 
hurricane force. 
The hut shook and creaked, but stood up to it all right, 
though some of the ruberoid on the roof was ripped off, a 
heavy ladder blown some way to leeward, and the outer 
wall of our porch, made of cases and boards, blown in. In 
the forenoon the wind eased a little and we were able to 
get out and secure what we could. The squalls were 
still so fierce it was impossible to stand in them, and 
one liad to ' heave to ' on hands and knees until they 
passed. 
All the sea ice had gone out, although it was over 2 feet 
thick, and on the 8th tlie gale freshened again, and during 
the niglit the squalls were as hard as any we had had, 
stones and pebbles rattling against the ]\ut. On the 9th 
it eased a little, but blew a wliole gale until Saturday 13th, 
when the wind dropped. The peninsula had been swept 
bare of snow, but the beach and huts were covered with 
frozen spray. On the 19th the sun left us, but the weather 
improved, being clear and cold, while the temperature 
dropped to below zero F. By May 28 the sea ice 
seemed pretty solid all round us, the temperature being 
— 30° F., and we walked out to tlie ' Sisters,' two pillar 
rocks lying off Cape Adare. The ice here showed heavy 
pressure. There are a good number of bergs frozen in to 
the northward of us. 
