Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/110

of cold air pouring from the Barrier on to the sea ice, so we camped about 100 yards away to be out of it and had lunch. The temp. here was −43°. The sledgemeter now showed 38 miles from our camp in the Knoll gap at Cape Crozier. From this point to Hut Point was 3 miles, and it was again an excellent hardened smooth snow surface all the way to Cape Armitage, and rather the same rough, crunchy sea ice, with very few snow-covered patches, from Cape Armitage to Hut Point.

By the time we reached the hut the sky had become completely overcast and the temp. had gone up to −27°. It was still quite calm, and the sky cleared again during the night. We camped at the hut. [The last day we had been using our oil to warm ourselves, since we had a half-tin left, having used the first half very sparingly. Birdie made a bottom for the cooker out of an empty biscuit-tin, which was most successful. We cooked on Bill's bag in the middle, generally one of us steadying the cooker with his hands.

It used to be quite a common experience to spill some water or hoosh on to our bags as they lay on the floorcloth. This did not worry us, since it was practically impossible for our bags to be wetter than they were.

During the last four days Birdie quite often fell asleep as he was marching; I do not know that Bill ever did this. I never did so till the last day, when for about an hour I was falling asleep constantly as we marched along—waking when I came up against Bill or Birdie.]

Tuesday, August 1, 1911.—In the hut we pitched