Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/436

he was half a mile inshore and didn't come out on account of the dogs, who are very hard to control if they get near another sledge team.

There was no object in camping for lunch on the sea ice, and we pushed on to Hut Point for lunch. The distance by sledgemeter was 13 miles 300 yards (statute 15 miles 264 yards). We found Meares had left everything at Hut Point in splendid order, and we soon had the blubber stove going and a meal cooked. At 5.15, it being quite fine, we repacked sledge and marched 4 miles out towards Safety Camp. We stopped about 9 p.m., had supper, and turned into our bags.

Our camp was on the sea ice, and we noticed an extraordinary change in the temperature after rounding Cape Armitage; the thermometer at Hut Point showed −21° and on camping it was −42°, with a sharp biting breeze coming away from the Barrier. Minimum temp. −45°.

On the following day we started off in a light easterly wind, temperature −36·5°, and hauled our sledge to Safety Camp, which is distant from Cape Evans 22 miles 452 yards (statute). We dug out the depôt, tallied stores, and then put up a wind recorder of Simpson's.

It was interesting to see how Safety Camp had drifted up during the winter. It took many hours to dig it out, and although this depôt contained, amongst other things, 73 bales of fodder, each of 107 lbs. weight, the snow had completely covered it.

After lunch we took 6 tins of paraffin from here and marched 8 miles 641 yards between 5.30 and 8.30 p.m. At 9 p.m. the thermometer showed 45·2° below zero.