348 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [July 
length of time. One seemed to be robbed of breath as 
they burst on one— the fine snow beat in behind the 
wind guard, and ten paces against the wind were sufficient 
to reduce one's face to the verge of frostbite. To clear 
the anemometer vane it is necessary to go to the other 
end of the hut and climb a ladder. Twice whilst engaged 
in this task I had literally to lean against the wind with 
head bent and face averted and so stagger crablike on 
my course. In those two days of really terrible weather 
our thoughts often turned to absentees at Cape Crozier 
with the devout hope that they may be safely housed. 
They are certain to have been caught by this gale, 
but I trust before it reached them they had managed to 
get up some sort of shelter. Sometimes I have imagined 
them getting much more wind than we do, yet at others 
it seems difficult to believe that the Emperor penguins 
have chosen an excessively wind-swept area for their 
rookery. 
To-day with the temperature at zero one can walk 
about outside without inconvenience in spite of a 50-mile 
wind. Although I am loath to believe it there must be 
some measure of acclimatisation, for it is certain we should 
have felt to-day's wind severely when we first arrived in 
McMurdo Sound. 
Tuesday, July II. — Never was such persistent bad 
weather. To-day the temperature is up to +5 0 to +7 0 , 
the wind 40 to 50 m.p.h., the air thick with snow, and the 
moon a vague blur. This is the fourth day of gale ; if 
one reflects on the quantity of transported air (nearly 
4,000 miles) one gets a conception of the transference 
