e was knotted, the people from the
other tent were yelling to us to come out, so we dragged up the bottom
of the tent and dived beneath it.

The cliff was entirely hidden by a cloud of snow, and, though
the crashing had now almost ceased, we stood ready to run, Dovers
thoughtfully seizing a food-bag. However, none of the blocks had come
within a hundred yards of us, and as it was now blowing hard, all hands
elected to remain where they were.

Several more avalanches, which had broken away near the edge of the
mainland, disturbed our sleep through the night, but they were not quite
so alarming as the first one. A strong breeze was blowing at daybreak;
still the weather was not too bad for travelling, and so I called the
party. Moyes and I lashed up our bags, passed them out and strapped them
on the sledge; Jones, in the meantime, starting the cooker. Suddenly a
terrific squall struck the front of our tent, the poles burst through
the apex, and the material split from top to bottom.

Moyes and I were both knocked down. When we found our feet again, we
went to the aid of the other men, whose tent had survived the gust. The
wind rushed by more madly than ever, and the only thing to do was to
pull away the poles and allow the tent to collapse.

Looking around for a lee where it could be raised, we found the only
available shelter to be a crevasse three hundred yards to windward, but
the wind was now so strong that it was impossible to convey the gear
even to such a short distance. All were frequently upset and blown along
the surface twenty or thirty yards, and, even with an ice-axe, one could
not always hold his own. The only resort was to dig a shelter.

Setting to work, we excavated a hole three feet deep, twelve feet long
and six feet wide; the snow being so compact that the job occupied three
hours. The sledges and tent-poles were placed across the hole, the good
tent being laid on top and weighted down with snow and blocks of ice.
All this sounds very easy, but it was a slow and difficult task. Many
of the gusts must have exceeded one hundred miles per hour, since one of
them lifted Harrisson who was standing beside me, clean over my head and
threw him nearly twenty feet. Everything movable was stowed in the
hole, and at noon we had a meal and retired into sleeping-bags. At three
o'clock a weighty avalanche descended, its fearful crash resounding
above the roar of the wind. I have never found anything which gave me