the most remarkable features of Adelie Land. By itself such
wind would have been bad enough, but, accompanied by dense volumes of
drifting snow, it effectually put a stop to most outdoor occupations.

The roof and walls of the veranda being covered with a single layer
of tongued and grooved boards, the snow drove through every chink.
The cases outside were a partial protection, but the cracks were
innumerable, and in the course of twenty-four hours the snow inside had
collected in deep drifts. This required to be shovelled out each day or
the veranda would have been entirely blocked.

Much time was spent endeavouring to make it drift-tight; but as the
materials at our disposal were very limited, the result was never
absolutely satisfactory. The small veranda serving as an entrance-porch
was deluged with snow which drove in past the canvas doorway. The only
way to get over this trouble was to shovel out the accumulations every
morning. On one occasion, when Close was nightwatchman, the drift poured
through in such volume that each time he wished to go outside it took
him half an hour to dig his way out. On account of this periodic influx,
the vestibule doorway to the workroom was moved to the other end of the
wall, where the invading snow had farther to travel and was consequently
less obstructive.

One advantage of the deposit of snow around the Hut was that all
draughts were sealed off. Before this happened it was found very
difficult to keep the inside temperature up to 40 deg. F. A temperature
taken within the Hut varied according to the specific position in
reference to the walls and stove. That shown by the thermometer attached
to the standard barometer, which was suspended near the centre of the
room, was taken as the "hut temperature". Near the floor and walls it
was lower, and higher, of course, near the stove. On one occasion,
in the early days, I remember the "hut temperature" being 19 deg. F.,
notwithstanding the heat from the large range. Under these conditions
the writing-ink and various solutions all over the place froze, and,
when the night-watchman woke up the shivering community he had many
clamorous demands to satisfy. The photographer produced an interesting
product from the dark room--a transparent cast of a developing-dish in
which a photographic plate left overnight to wash was firmly set.

We arranged to maintain an inside temperature of 40 degrees F.; when it
rose to 50 degrees F. means were