Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/59

I began the use of my eiderdown bag to-day inside the reindeer bag with the fur outside, and after this made no change till the day we reached Cape Evans again.

Sunday, July 16, 1911.—To-day looking over Ross Sea we saw a cloud of frost smoke drifting eastward along the Cape Crozier cliffs, evidently from an open lead along the coast. Otherwise the sea was covered by an unbroken sheet of ice.

The temp. varied to-day between −20·8° and −28·5°, and we again had the south-westerly breeze of force 3 to 5 coming down our snow slope from Mt. Terror. The weather was clear in the morning, but became hazy with cirro-stratus and fog soon after noon from the south.

We worked at the stone hut all the daylight and as long as we could see by the waning moonlight, and while Cherry built up the walls, Bowers and I collected rocks and piled up the outside of the walls with snow slabs and gravel. We had a pick and a shovel to work with.

[It was quite a question what it was to be called: in his Diary Bill called it 'Oriana Hut,' and the ridge the Oriana ridge: we discussed 'Terra Igloo,' 'Bleak House,' 'The House on the Hill.'

Birdie gathered rocks from over the hill; nothing was too big for him. Bill did the banking up outside. The stones were good; the snow, however, was blown so hard as to be practically ice: a pick made little impression upon it, and the only way was to chip out big blocks gradually by the small shovel.

There was now little moonlight or daylight, but for the next two days we used both to their utmost, being up