i9ii] THE HUT 129 
Such a noble dwelling transcends the word i hut/ 
and we pause to give it a more fitting title only from lack 
of the appropriate suggestion. What shall we call it ? 
'The word i6 hut " is misleading. Our residence is 
really a house of considerable size, in every respect the 
finest that has ever been erected in the Polar regions ; 
50 ft. long by 25 wide and 9 ft. to the caves. 
* If you can picture our house nestling below* this small 
hill on a long stretch of black sand, with many tons of 
provision cases ranged in neat blocks in front of it and 
the sea lapping the ice-foot below, you will have some 
idea of our immediate vicinity. As for our wider sur- 
roundings it would be difficult to describe their beauty in 
sufficiently glowing terms. Cape Evans is one of the 
many spurs of Erebus and the one that stands closest 
under the mountain, so that always towering above us 
we have the grand snowy peak with its smoking summit. 
North and south of us are deep bays, beyond which 
great glaciers come rippling over the lower slopes to thrust 
high blue-walled snouts into the sea. The sea is blue 
before us, dotted with shining bergs or ice floes, whilst 
far over the Sound, yet so bold and magnificent as to 
appear near, stand the beautiful Western Mountains with 
their numerous lofty peaks, their deep glacial valley and 
clear cut scarps, a vision of mountain scenery that can 
have few rivals, 
'Ponting is the most delighted of men; he declares 
this is the most beautiful spot he has ever seen and spends 
all day and most of the night in what he calls a gathering 
it in " with camera and cinematograph.' 
VOL. I. K 
