268 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[May 
for 12 inches in thickness, or fears the floe is too slippery 
for the ponies. 
Yet I wish he would come, 
I took a thermometer on my walk to-day ; the tem- 
perature was -12° inside Inaccessible Island, but only 
-8° on the sea ice outside — the wind seemed less outside. 
Coming in under lee of Island and bergs I was reminded 
of the difficulty of finding shelter in these regions. The 
weather side of hills seems to afford better shelter than 
the lee side, as I have remarked elsewhere. May it be 
in part because all lee sides tend to be filled by drift snow, 
blown and weathered rock debris ? There was a good 
lee under one of the bergs ; in one corner the ice sloped 
out over me and on either side, forming a sort of grotto ; 
here the air was absolutely still. 
Ponting gave us an interesting lecture on Burmah, 
illustrated with fine slides. His descriptive language is 
florid, but shows the artistic temperament. Bowers and 
Simpson were able to give personal reminiscences of this 
land of pagodas, and the discussion led to interesting 
statements on the religion, art, and education of its people, 
their philosophic idleness, &c. Our lectures arc a real 
success. 
Friday, May 12. — Yesterday morning was quiet. 
Played football in the morning ; wind got up in the after- 
noon and evening. 
All day it has been blowing hard, 30 to 60 miles an 
hour; it has never looked very dark overhead, but a 
watery cirrus has been in evidence for some time, causing 
well marked paraselene. 
