248 scorrs i-ast rxpedition [deckmyuih 
llic Mackriy Tongue, for wc sJiouId lose sight of all our 
survey stations if wc went farther. 
Tlie sky looked very ugly — the sun dinnly glaring 
through gloomy clouds, while a low tliick hank of dark 
stratus <-overcd the eastern liori/on. The baronictcr 
fell nearly half an inch in twelve hours, and we were quite 
expectant of a hli/zard, for siiuilar conditions on a smaller 
scale preceded the hli/'/.ard at the piedmont tongue. Our 
niete()roh)gy was (|uile sound. Tlie first furious blizzard 
we had experienced now commenced, for the wind force 
was about 7, while tlie drift was tliick and wetting. I 
will copy my diary here. 
' 10 a.m.- 'Wc have a |)retty snug camp on snow one 
foot thick which you can accommodate to y(nir hip bone, 
but vvhicli il is dillicult to stand t he j>rimus upon (especially 
as the cooker base is lull of fat, and is n(jw our frying jnm 
at the hut !). It started snowing about midnight and 
clothed the tent by 3 a.m. ] woke to hear the tent flapping 
auel shaking down young a v;tlanc]ies, and it's been going 
strong ever since. 
' 2 p.m. — Still bliz/ing strongly ; there have been one or 
two lulls of a few minutes, but they don't seem to mean 
iimch. It is snowing like fury too, j^attering on tlie tent 
like rain on wooden shingles. If you budge from the tent 
(l)cbenliam did so to get a note-book) you get very cold 
because the drift melts and wets you at this high tempera- 
lure of \- 1 V*- VVe had a meal about i i a.m., (Iran 
cooking a r.ood pcmmican with a large supply of broken 
biscuit thert'in. This strong S.M. wind blows practically 
direct from Cape Koberts on to the tongue on our lee, so 
