220 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [March 
in the South, and in consequence my sledge diary is rather 
scrappy. I wrote : ^ Finally decided to have an early 
supper and turn into our wet bags. We lit the primus 
and let the flame singe our feet to warm them. Talked of 
Cambridge cakes and teas and other delights. Evans 
told a cheerful tale of the snow round the tent at Cape 
Crozier which pinned them in for five days in September 
1903 ! We can't see 100 feet anvwhere. The rime is 
dripping down my neck and covering our bags. Drifts 
are slipping off the tent. Wind veering somewhat 
southerly from south-east. Now and again we peep 
out of the door, but no improvement. Couldn't get on 
to the shore probably to camp, as the water is evidently 
exceptionally far to the east. . . . Guess we '11 shiver it 
out. The booming of the lid of the biscuit tin outside 
is like the Inchcape Bell ! ' 
The next day was much the same, but though the 
blizzard blew as strong as ever, driving the drift in great 
sheets into the open sound, yet I felt that as we had got 
through one day and night all right, so we should the 
next ; which is very common if unscientific logic ! 
On the 14th it lulled a bit by 10 a.m., and as we knew 
the direction I decided to make for Castle Rock. The 
blizzard had piled a long snow slope in the lee of our tent, 
ICQ feet to the north-west of the sledges. We dug out 
the sledges and packed the gear, and then marched out, 
the wind helping us materially. 
I anticipated some trouble from the tide crack next the 
land which P.O. Evans had crossed in 1903. However, all 
was lost to view in the mist of drift, though we seemed 
