a
more uncomfortable feeling than those avalanches.

The gale continued on September 6, and we still remained packed in the
trench. If the latter had been deeper and it had been possible to sit
upright, we should have been quite comfortable. To make matters worse,
several more avalanches came down, and all of them sounded horribly
close.

We were confined in our burrow for five days, the wind continuing
to blow with merciless force. Through being closed up so much, the
temperature of the hole rose above freezing-point, consequently our
sleeping-bags and clothes became very wet.

On Sunday September 8, Moyes went out to feed the dogs and to bring in
some biscuit. He found a strong gusty wind with falling snow, and drift
so thick that he could not see five yards. We had a cold lunch with
nothing to drink, so that the primus should not raise the temperature.
In the evening we sang hymns and between us managed to remember the
words of at least a dozen.

The long confinement was over on the 10th; the sky was blue and the sun
brilliant, though the wind still pulsated with racking gusts. As soon
as we were on the ice, away from the land, two men had to hold on to the
rear of each sledge, and even then capsizes often occurred. The sledge
would turn and slide broadside-on to leeward, tearing the runners badly
on the rough ice. Still, by 9.30 A.M. the surface changed to snow and
the travelling improved. That night we camped with twenty miles one
hundred yards on the meter.

There was a cold blizzard on the 11th with a temperature of -30 degrees
F. Confined in the tents, we found our sleeping-bags still sodden and
uncomfortable.

With a strong beam wind and in moderate drift big marches were made for
two days, during which the compass and sastrugi determined our course.

My diary of September 14 runs as follows:

"On the march at 7 A.M.; by noon we had done twelve miles one thousand
five hundred yards. Lunch was hurried, as we were all anxious to get to
the hut to-night, especially we in the three-man bag, as it got so wet
while we were living underground that we have had very little sleep and
plenty of shivering for the last four nights. Last night I had no sleep
at all. By some means, in the afternoon, we got on the wrong course.
Either the compass was affected or a mistake had been made in some of
the bearings, as instead of reaching home by 5 P.M. we were travelling
till 8 P.M. and have done thirty-two miles one tho