388 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [August 
to connecting links which join one episode to another. 
A lecture need not be a connected story ; perhaps it is 
better it should not be. 
It was my night on duty last night and I watched the 
oncoming of a blizzard with exceptional beginnings. 
The sky became very gradually overcast between I and 
4 a.m. About 2.30 the temperature rose on a steep grade 
from -20 0 to -3 0 ; the barometer was falling, rapidly 
for these regions. Soon after 4 the wind came with a 
rush, but without snow or drift. For a time it was more 
gusty than has ever yet been recorded even in this region. 
In one gust the wind rose from 4 to 68 m.p.h. and fell 
again to 20 m.p.h. within a minute; another reached 
80 m.p.h., but not from such a low point of origin. The 
effect in the hut was curious ; for a space all would be 
quiet, then a shattering blast would descend with a clatter 
and rattle past ventilator and chimneys, so sudden, so 
threatening, that it was comforting to remember the solid 
structure of our building. The suction of such a gust is 
so heavy that even the heavy snow-covered roof of the 
stable, completely sheltered on the lee side of the main 
building, is violently shaken — one could well imagine the 
plight of our adventurers at C. Crozier when their roof 
was destroyed. The snow which came at 6 lessened the 
gustincss and brought the ordinary phenomena of a 
blizzard. It is blowing hard to-day, with broken windy 
clouds and roving bodies of drift. A wild day for the 
return of the sun. Had it been fine to-day we should 
have seen the sun for the first time ; yesterday it shone 
on the lower foothills to the west, but to-day we see 
