Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/215

We have also been experimenting on a blubber reading-lamp and are, I think, on a fair way to success.

March 16.—Blowing hard all day, very cold. Our bags and all gear are covered with drift. The outlook is not very cheerful. We are evidently in for a winter here, under very hard conditions. When we can be out and working things are not so bad, but lying in our bags covered with drift, with nothing to do but speculate as to what has happened to the ship, is depressing. We are using salt water in our hoosh and some bleached and decayed seaweed from a raised beach, which we try to imagine is like cabbage. Priestley says he would not object to fresh seaweed, but cannot induce himself to include prehistoric seaweed in our regular ration.

March 17.—Still blowing, but clear, so after breakfast we struck camp, and started carrying our gear to the hut. The distance is only 1 mile, but over a chaos of big boulders which are the cause of many falls. Our boots have given out and finnesko would not last a day on such surface. Before we had got all our gear over, it came on to blow harder than ever, the squalls bringing small pebbles along with them, and we were several times taken off our feet and blown down.

Luckily no one was damaged, although we all got pretty well frostbitten. It was a great relief to get into our finished hut out of the wind.

We were all dead tired, and turned in directly after hoosh.

March 18.—Our first night in the hut was cold, as we have no door yet and no insulation; in fact, it will take at