132 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[March 
least two days' more work to make it big enough for us, 
but it is a shelter from the wind, which we can hear roaring 
outside. We spent the day chipping away at the ice walls 
and floor. As a matter of fact our ' hut ' is only a cave 
dug into the snow drift, and our roof is of hard snow about 
3 feet thick, while the walls and floor are of ice. As snow 
is a better insulator than ice, we shall line the walls with 
snow blocks and pack the space between the snow and ice 
with seaweed. The floor will be of a layer of small pebbles 
on the ice, with seaweed on top of that ; then our tent 
cloths are spread on the seaweed. 
March 19. — -Avery heavy gale is blowing, but this no 
longer interferes with our work, and the hut has grown to 
quite a respectable size. 
Our craving for biscuit is growing awful. We do not 
like this meat diet. In the afternoon the wind moderated 
a little, but the squalls were still heavy. About 6 p.m. 
we heard voices outside, and Levick and his party arrived 
without sleeping-bags and all pretty well frostbitten. 
They had had a bad time, their tent poles having been 
broken in a squall, and their tent blown to rags. They 
had piled rocks on the rest of their gear and then came 
over to look for us. After reviving them with hoosh, we 
spent a most uncomfortable night, sleeping two in each bag. 
Levick was my partner. My bag was, luckily, a good 
one, and nothing split, but I should not care to repeat 
the experience. 
March 20. — Luckily the weather had improved enough 
for Levick's party to get their bags and gear over. The 
rest of us worked at the hut. 
