patience, the tide-gauge
down on the harbour-ice was induced to supply a good series of unbroken
records.

[TEXT ILLUSTRATION]

The tide-gauge

The rise and fall of the tide is coincident with the movements of
a perpendicular wire to which the Float is attached. The Wheel is
revolved, and through wire connections (indicated above) displaces
vertically the Pen. This traces a record on paper folded on the drum
which is driven by clockwork. In all weathers, the box was enveloped in
drift-proof canvas.

Antarctica is a world of colour, brilliant and intensely pure. The
chaste whiteness of the snow and the velvet blackness of the rocks
belong to days of snowy nimbus enshrouding the horizon. When the sky has
broken into cloudlets of fleece, their edges are painted pale orange,
fading or richly glowing if the sun is low. In the high sun they are
rainbow-rimmed.

The clouds have opened into rifts and the sun is setting in the
north-west. The widening spaces in the zenith are azure, and low in the
north they are emerald. Scenic changes are swift. Above the mounting
plateau a lofty arch of clear sky has risen, flanked by roseate clouds.
Far down in the south it is tinged with indigo and ultramarine, washed
with royal purple paling onwards into cold violet and greyish-blue.

Soon the north is unveiled. The liquid globe of sun has departed,
but his glory still remains. Down from the zenith his colours descend
through greenish-blue, yellowish-green, straw-yellow, light terra-cotta
to a diffuse brick-red; each reflected in the dull sheen of freezing
sea. Out on the infinite horizon float icebergs in a mirage of mobile
gold. The Barrier, curving to east and west, is a wall of delicate pink
overlaid with a wondrous mauve--the rising plateau. A cold picture--yet
it awakens the throb of inborn divinity.

Despite contrary predictions, there were some enjoyable days in June.
Occupation had to be strenuous, making the blood run hot, otherwise the
wind was apt to be chill. So the Transit House was founded, and there
were many volunteers to assist Bage in carrying the tons of stones which
formed its permanent base. The nearest large collection of boulders was
twenty yards away, on the edge of a moraine, but these after a while
became exhausted. Plenty of rocks actually showed above the surface, but
the majority were frozen-in, and, when of suitable size, could only
be moved by a heavy crowbar. Some of the men, therefore, dislodged