a portion
of the glacier low enough to give access to the sea-ice. There were
several spots where the ice-cliffs were not more than forty to fifty
feet high, but no convenient ramps led down from the cliffs. In any case
neither penguins nor seals were to be had in the vicinity. A great, flat
sheet of frozen sea stretched away to the north for quite thirty miles.

May 2 was fine, but the 3rd and 4th were windy once more and we had to
remain indoors. Saturday, the 4th, was clean-up day, when the verandas,
tunnel and cave were swept and tidied, the stove cleaned, the hut and
darkroom scrubbed and the windows cleared. The last was a job which was
generally detested. During the week, the windows in the roof collected
a coat of ice, from an inch to three inches thick, by condensation of
moisture. Chipping this off was a most tedious piece of work, while in
the process one's clothes became filled with ice.

One Sunday, Harrisson, Hoadley and Watson returned from their short
trip; they had missed the strong winds which had been blowing at the
Base, although less than twenty miles away. Some very fine old icebergs
were discovered which were of interest to the two geologists and made
good subjects for Harrisson's sketches. Watson had had a nasty fall
while crossing a patch of rough ice, his nose being rather badly cut in
the accident.

On May 7 another blizzard stopped all outside work. Moyes ventured as
far as the meteorological screen at noon and got lost, but luckily only
for a short time. The barometer behaved very strangely during the blow,
rising abruptly during a little more than an hour, and then slowly
falling once more. For a few hours on the 8th there was a lull and the
store of ice was replenished, but the 9th and 10th were again spent
indoors, repairing and refitting tents, poles and other sledging gear
during the working hours, and reading or playing chess and bridge in
the leisure time. Harrisson carved an excellent set of chessmen,
distinguishing the "black" ones by a stain of permanganate of potash.

Bridge was the favourite game all through the winter, and a continuous
record of the scores was kept. Two medals were struck: a neat little
thing for the highest scorer and a huge affair as large as a plate,
slung on a piece of three-and-a-half-inch rope, with "Jonah" inscribed
on it, to be worn by the player at the foot of the list.

Divine service was held every Sunday, Moyes and I taking it in turn.
There was