and improving.

We continued getting stuff out on the ice until late at night, and by
dinner time, 7 p.m., we had put two motor sledges, all the dogs and
ponies ashore, besides most of the ordinary sledges and tents.

Next day we turned out all hands at 4.30, breakfasted at 5, started work
at 6, and landed all the petrol, kerosene, and hut timber. Most of the
haulage was done by motors and men, but a few runs were made with ponies.
We erected a big tent on the beach at Cape Evans and in this the
hut-building party and those who were stowing stores and unloading
sledges on the beach got their meals and sleep. We worked continuously
until 10 p.m. with only the shortest of meal intervals, and then, tired
but contented, we "flattened out" in our sleeping-bags, bunks, or
hammocks.

The following day the same routine was continued and nearly the whole of
the provision cases came ashore and were stacked in neat little piles
under Bowers's direction. This indefatigable little worker now devoted
himself entirely to the western party stores. He knew every case and all
about it. Each one weighed approximately 60 lb. We had purposely arranged
that this should be so when ordering stores in London to save weight and
space. The cases were made of Venesta 3-ply wood. Of course, the
instruments and heavier scientific gear could not stow in these handy
packages, but the sixty-pound-Venesta was adhered to whenever possible.
The ponies were not worked till the afternoon of the 6th, and then only
the best of them with light loads.

Davis, the carpenter, had with him seaman Ford, Keohane, and Abbot. Their
routine was a little different from ours: they worked at hut building
from 7 a.m. till midnight usually, and their results were little short of
marvellous. Odd people helped them when they could, and of these Pouting
showed himself to be _facile princeps_ as carpenter. I never saw anything
like the speed in which he set up tongued and grooved match boarding.

Day, Nelson, and Lashly worked with the motor sledges; the newest motor
frequently towed loads of 2500 lb. over the ice at a six mile an hour
speed. The oldest hauled a ton and managed six double trips a day. Day,
the motor engineer, had been down here before--both he and Priestley came
from the Shackleton Expedition. The former had a decidedly comic vein
which made him popular all round. From start to finish Day showed himself
to be the most undefeated sportsman, and it was not hi