SOUTH 
June 8.— Made our latitude 75^ 59' S. by altitude of Sirius. 
This is a very monotonous life, but all hands appear to be happy 
and contented. Find that we are not too well off for meals 
and will have to cut rations a little. Grady is taking exercise 
now and should soon be well again. He seems very anxious 
to get to work again, and is a good man. No wireless calls 
to-night, as there is a temporaiy breakdown — condenser jar 
broken. There is a very faint display of aurora in northern 
sky. Tt comes and goes almost imperceptibly, a most fascinat- 
ing sight. The temperature is - 20"" Fahr. ; 52° of frost is 
much too cold to allow one to stand for long. 
June 11. — ^Walked over to a very high pressure-ridge 
about a quarter of a mile north-north-west of the ship. In the 
dim light walking over the ice is far from being monotonous, 
as it is almost impossible to see obstacles, such as small, snowed- 
up ridges, which makes us wary and cautious. A dip in the 
sea would be the grand finale, but there is little risk of 
this as the water freezes as soon as a lane opens in the ice. 
The pressure-ridge is about fifteen to twenty feet high for 
several hundred feet, and the ice all about it is bent up in a 
most extraordmary manner. At 9 p.m. Hooke called Cape 
Evans, * All well — Aurora' etc. ; 10 p.m., weather reports 
for 8 p.m. sent to Wellington, New Zealand, and Melbourne, 
via Macquarie Island. [The dispatch of messages from the 
Aurora was continued, but it was learned afterwards that 
none of them had been received by any station.] 
June 13. — The temperature in the chart-room ranges from 
zero to a Httle above freezing-point. This is a very disturbing 
factor in rates of the chronometers (five in number, 3 G.M.T. 
and 2 Sid. T.), which are kept in cases in a padded box, each 
case covered by a piece of blanket, and the box covered by a 
heavy coat. In any enclosed place where people pass their 
time, the niches and places where no heat penetrates are covered 
with frozen breath. There will be a big thaw-out when the 
temperature rises. 
June 14, — Mount Melbourne is bearing north 14° west 
(true). Our approximate position is forty miles east-north- 
east of Nordenskjold Ice Tongue. At 9 p.m. Hooke called Cape 
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