Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/482

for the spring. Under these conditions officers and men unanimously supported the decision to go south.

Nelson at the end of June had started some lectures upon heredity. These proved to be of great interest and led to several discussions amongst the men and officers. They were so popular that they had to be continued for three weeks. The weather in June as a whole was immeasurably worse than it had been in any previous season. Comparison of the records will show this in figures, both as regards wind and snow, though not in actual lowness of temperature. Our hut was becoming gradually snowed in. After these blizzards in the dark it was almost an impossibility to walk far in the camp because of the huge drifts. Pyaree started giving some trouble with her capped knee on her near fore-leg. This continued for some time and she was unable to get exercise and lost condition. The ice, which had been fairly permanent again, blew out in a large bight to the south of the Cape. In the afternoon now we occasionally saw some colour in the northern sky, a presage of the light that we were to have. One never appreciates fully the blessing of an amount of light until one has been through a good deal of darkness. This time also we started bagging off the rations for the future sledging season. Owing to the probable length of our search these were of considerable bulk.

On July the 16th we had probably the most beautiful day of the year. The whole northern sky was filled with opalescent clouds, and owing to some white ice instead of the black water in the North Bay, the increase of light