he land. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but in the
light of after events one is compelled to state that had we stuck to our
original plan and made our landing four hundred miles or so to the
eastward of Ross Island, we should have escaped, in all probability, the
greater part of the bad weather experienced by us. Comparison with
Framheim, Amundsen's observation station, shows that we at Cape Evans had
ten times as much high wind as the Norwegians experienced. Our wind
velocities reached greater speeds than 60 miles an hour, whereas there
does not appear to be any record of wind higher than 45 miles an hour at
Amundsen's base at the Bay of Whales. Some of our anemometer records were
very interesting. In the month of July, when Wilson's party was absent,
we recorded 258 hours of blizzards, that is, of southerly winds of more
than 25 miles an hour speed. This was the record for the winter months,
but while we were depot-laying and waiting for the sea to freeze over at
Hut Point, no less than 404 hours of blizzard were recorded in one
month--March. Think of it, well over half the month was blizzard, with
its consequent discomfort and danger. The blizzard which nearly caused
the loss of the Cape Crozier party measured a wind force up to 84 miles
an hour; no wonder the canvas roof of the stone hut there was swept away!

Our minimum temperature at the hut meteorological station was 50 degrees
below zero in July, 1911, and the maximum temperature during the winter
occurred in June when the thermometer stood as high as +19 degrees.

Our ten ponies stood the winter very well, all things being considered.
One nearly died with cramp, but he pulled round in extraordinary fashion
after keeping Oates and myself up all night nursing him. In spite of the
names we assigned to the animals, largely on account of their being
presented to us by certain schools, institutions, and individuals, the
ponies were called by names conferred on them by the sailors and those
who led them out for exercise. The ten animals that now survived were
James Pigg, Christopher, Victor, Nobby, Jehu, Michael, Snatcher, Bones,
Snippets, and a Manchurian animal called Chinaman, who behaved very badly
in that he was always squealing, biting, and kicking the other ponies. A
visitor to the stables, if he lent a hand to stir up the blubber which
was usually cooking there, found himself generally welcome and certain to
be entertained. Oates and Meares, his constant comp