CHAPTER XIII 
THE RETURN OF THE SUN 
Thursday, August 3. — We have had such a long spell 
of fine clear weather without especially low temperatures 
that one can scarcely grumble at the change which we 
found on waking this morning, when the canopy of stratus 
cloud spread over us and the wind came in those fitful 
gusts which promise a gale. All day the wind force has 
been slowly increasing, whilst the temperature has risen 
to -1 5 0 , but there is no snow falling or drifting as yet. 
The steam cloud of Erebus was streaming away to the 
N.W. this morning ; now it is hidden. 
Our expectations have been falsified so often that we 
feel ourselves wholly incapable as weather prophets — 
therefore one scarce dares to predict a blizzard even in 
face of such disturbance as exists. A paper handed to 
Simpson by David,* and purporting to contain a description 
of approaching signs, together with the cause and effect 
of our blizzards, proves equally hopeless. We have 
not obtained a single scrap of evidence to verify its state- 
ments, and a great number of our observations definitely 
* Prof. T. Edgcworth David, of Sydney University, who accom- 
panied Shackleton's expedition as geologist. 
