t and rice for tea. It was a rare treat.

All the stores were now brought up from the landing-place, and as I had
put up several extra shelves some weeks previously, plenty of room was
found for all the perishable commodities inside the Shack.

The beginning of September found me fairly busy. In addition to the
meteorological work, the results of which were always kept reduced and
entered up, I had to work on Wireless Hill during the evening and make
auroral observations on any night during which there was a display,
attending to the stores and taking the week of cooking as it came along.

Blake and Hamilton went down the island for several days on September
3, since they had some special observations to make in the vicinity of
Sandy Bay.

The sea elephant season was now in progress, and many rookeries were
well formed by the middle of the month. The skuas had returned, and on
the 19th the advance-guard of the Royal penguins arrived. The gentoos
had established themselves in their old "claims," and since the 12th we
had been using their eggs for cooking.

Early in September time-signals were received from Melbourne, and these
were transmitted through to Adelie Land. This practice was kept up
throughout the month and in many cases the signals were acknowledged.

Blake and Hamilton returned to the Shack on the 24th, but left again on
the 30th, as they had some more photographic work to do in the vicinity
of Green Valley and Sandy Bay.

Blake made a special trip to Sandy Bay on October 30 to bring back some
geological specimens and other things he had left there, but on
reaching the spot found that the old hut had been burned to the ground,
apparently only a few hours before, since it was still smouldering. Many
articles were destroyed, among which were two sleeping-bags, a sextant,
gun, blankets, photographic plates, bird specimens and articles of
clothing. It was presumed that rats had originated the fire from wax
matches which had been left lying on a small shelf.

On November 9 we heard that the 'Aurora' would leave Hobart on the 19th
for Antarctica, picking us up on the way and landing three men on the
island to continue the wireless and meteorological work.

We sighted the 'Rachel Cohen' bearing down on the island on November 18,
and at 5.15 P.M. she came to an anchorage in North-East Bay. She brought
down the remainder of our coal and some salt for Hamilton for the
preservation of specimens.

On the next