350 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[July 
cloud in the middle heights. A watery moon shining 
through a filmy cirro-stratus — the outlook wonderfully 
desolate with its ghostly illumination and patchy clouds 
of flying snow drift. It would be hardly possible for a 
tearing, raging wind to make itself more visible. At 
Wind Vane Hill the anemometer has registered 68 miles 
between 9 and 10 a.m. — a record. The gusts at the hut 
frequently exceed 70 m.p.h. — luckily the temperature is 
up to +5°, so that there is no hardship for the workers 
outside. 
Thursday 9 July 13. — The wind continued to blow 
throughout the night, with squalls of even greater violence 
than before ; a new record was created by a gust of 
77 m.p.h. shown by the anemometer. 
The snow is so hard blown that only the fiercest gusts 
raise the drifting particles — it is interesting to note the 
balance of nature whereby one evil is eliminated by the 
excess of another. 
For an hour after lunch yesterday the gale showed 
signs of moderation and the ponies had a short walk over 
the floe. Out for exercise at this time I was obliged to 
lean against the wind, my light overall clothes flapping 
wildly and almost dragged from me ; later when the 
wind rose again it was quite an effort to stagger back 
to the hut against it. 
This morning the gale still rages, but the sky is much 
clearer ; the only definite clouds are those which hang to 
the southward of Erebus summit, but the moon, though 
bright, still exhibits a watery appearance, showing that 
there is still a thin stratus above us. 
