19"] RETURN OF THE HUT POINT PARTY 271 
is curious that we should only have got one day with 
wind. 
I am promised the sea-freezing record to-morrow. 
Four seals were got on April 22, the day after we left, and 
others have been killed since, so that there is a plentiful 
supply of blubber and seal meat at the hut — the rest of 
the supplies seem to have been pretty well run out. Some 
more forage had been fetched in from the depot. A young 
sea leopard had been killed on the sea ice near Castle 
Rock three days ago, this being the second only found in 
the Sound. 
It is a strange fact that none of the returning party 
seem to greatly appreciate the food luxuries they have had 
since their return. It would have been the same with 
us had we not had a day or two in tents before our return. 
It seems more and more certain that a very simple fare 
is all that is needed here — plenty of seal meat, flour, and 
fat, with tea, cocoa, and sugar ; these arc the only real 
requirements for comfortable existence. 
The temperatures at Hut Point have not been as low 
as I expected. There seems to have been an extra- 
ordinary heat wave during the spell of calm recorded since 
we left — the thermometer registering little below zero 
until the wind came, when it fell to -20 0 . Thus as 
an exception we have had a fall instead of a rise of 
temperature with wind. 
[The exact inventory of stores at Hut Point here 
recorded has no immediate bearing on the history of the 
expedition, but may be noted as illustrating the care and 
thoroughness with which all operations were conducted. 
