ck, when it
fell calm with gusts from the north.

Have exercised the ponies to-day and got my first good look at them. I
scarcely like to express the mixed feelings with which I am able to
regard this remnant.

Freezing of Bays. Cape Evans

_March_ 15.--General young ice formed.

_March_ 19.--Bay cleared except strip inside Inaccessible and
Razor Back Islands to Corner Turk's Head.

_March_ 20.--Everything cleared.

_March_ 25.--Sea froze over inside Islands for good.

_March_ 28.--Sea frozen as far as seen.

_March_ 30.--Remaining only inside Islands.

_April_ 1.--Limit Cape to Island.

_April_ 6.--Present limit freezing in Strait and in North Bay.

_April_ 9.--Strait cleared except former limit and _some_ ice in
North Bay likely to remain.

CHAPTER VIII

Home Impressions and an Excursion

_Impressions on returning to the Hut, April_ 13, 1911

In choosing the site of the hut on our Home Beach I had thought of
the possibility of northerly winds bringing a swell, but had argued,
firstly, that no heavy northerly swell had ever been recorded in the
Sound; secondly, that a strong northerly wind was bound to bring pack
which would damp the swell; thirdly, that the locality was excellently
protected by the Barne Glacier, and finally, that the beach itself
showed no signs of having been swept by the sea, the rock fragments
composing it being completely angular.

When the hut was erected and I found that its foundation was only
11 feet above the level of the sea ice, I had a slight misgiving,
but reassured myself again by reconsidering the circumstances that
afforded shelter to the beach.

The fact that such question had been considered makes it easier to
understand the attitude of mind that readmitted doubt in the face of
phenomenal conditions.

The event has justified my original arguments, but I must confess a
sense of having assumed security without sufficient proof in a case
where an error of judgment might have had dire consequences.

It was not until I found all safe at the Home Station that I realised
how anxious I had been concerning it. In a normal season no thought
of its having been in danger would have occurred to me, but since the
loss of the ponies and the breaking of the Glacier Tongue I could not
rid myself of the fear that misfortune was in the air and that some
abnormal swell had swept the beach; gloomy thoughts of the havoc that
might have been wrought by such an event would a