e distant homes in gold
and made them look to us like little bits of heaven--however, what was
more important, the stores were all out of the "Terra Nova," even to
stationery, instruments, and chronometers, and we could have removed into
the hut at a pinch a week before we did, or gone sledging, for that
matter, had we not purposely delayed to give the ponies a chance to
regain condition. It was certainly better to let the carpenter and his
company straighten up first, and in our slack hours we, who were to live
in the palatial hut, got the house in order, put up knick-knacks, and
settled into our appointed corners with our personal gear and
professional impedimenta only at the last moment, a day or two before the
big depot-laying sledge journey was appointed to start. Simpson and
Ponting had the best allotments in the hut, because the former had to
accommodate anemometers, barometers, thermometers, motors, bells, and a
diversity of scientific instruments, but yet leave room to sleep amongst
them without being electrocuted, while the latter had to arrange a
small-sized dark room, 8 ft. by 6 ft. floor dimension, for all his
developing of films and plates, for stowing photographic gear and
cinematograph, and for everything in connection with his important and
beautiful work as camera artist to the Expedition. Ponting likewise slept
where he worked, so a bed was also included in the dark room.

Before moving the chronometers ashore Pennell, Rennick, and I myself took
astronomical observations to determine independently the position of the
observation spot on the beach at Cape Evans. The preliminary position
gave us latitude 77 degrees 38 minutes 23 seconds S. longitude 166
degrees 33 minutes 24 seconds E., a more accurate determination was
arrived at by running meridian distances from New Zealand and taking
occultations during the ensuing winter, for longitude: latitudes were
obtained by the mean results of stars north and south and meridian
altitudes of the sun above and below pole.

Before getting busy with the preliminaries for the big depot journey, I
took stock of the fresh meat in the grotto. The list of frozen flesh
which I handed over to Clissold, the cook, looked luxurious enough, for
it included nothing less than 700 lb. of beef, 100 sheep carcasses, 2
pheasants, 3 ox-tails, and 3 tongues, 10 lb. of sweetbread, 1 box of
kidneys, 10 lb. of suet, 82 penguins, and 11 skua-gulls! The cooks'
corner in the hut was ver