ig
snowdrifts at Hut Point, as indeed was already the case at Cape Evans.
During the first days of June we got down into the minus thirties, and
our spirits rose as the thermometer dropped: we wanted permanent
sea-ice.

"_Saturday, June 8._ The weather changes since the night before last have
been, luckily for us, uncommon. Thursday evening a strong northerly wind
started with some drift, and this increased during the night until it
blew over forty miles an hour, the temperature being -22 deg.. A strong wind
from the north is rare, and generally is the prelude of a blizzard. This
northerly wind fell towards morning, and the day was calm and clear, the
temperature falling until it was -33 deg. at 4 P.M. The barometer had been
abnormally low during the day, being only 28.24 at noon. Then at 8 P.M.
with the temperature at -36 deg., this blizzard broke, and at the same time
there was a big upward jump of the barometer, which seemed to mark the
beginning of the blizzard much more than the thermometer, which did not
rise much. The wind during the night was very high, blowing 72 and 66
miles an hour, for hours at a time, and has not yet shown any sign of
diminishing. Now, after lunch, the hut is straining and creaking, while a
shower of stones rattles at intervals against it: the drift is generally
very heavy."

"_Sunday, June 9._ The temperature has been higher, about zero, during
the day, and the blizzard shows no signs of falling yet. The gusts are
still of a very high velocity. A large quantity of ice to the north seems
to have gone out: at any rate our narrow strip along the front, which is
so valuable to us, will probably be permanent now."

"_Monday, June 10._ A most turbulent day. It is very hard to settle down
to do anything, read or write, with such a turmoil outside, the hut
shaking until we begin to wonder how long it will stand such winds. Most
of the time the wind is averaging about sixty miles an hour, but the
gusts are far greater, and at times it seems that something must go. Just
before lunch I was racking my brains to write an Editorial for the South
Polar Times, and had congratulated ourselves on having the sea-ice which
is still in North Bay. As we were having lunch Nelson came in and said,
'The thermometers have gone!' All the ice in North Bay has gone. The part
immediately next to the shore, which has now been in so long, and which
was over two feet thick, we had considered sure to stay. On it has gone