taken to reduce it. The cooking-range,
a large one designed to burn anthracite coal, was the general warming
apparatus. To raise the temperature quickly, blocks of seal blubber, of
which there was always a supply at hand, were used. The coal consumption
averaged one hundred pounds a day, approximately, this being reduced at
a later date to seventy-five pounds by employing a special damper for
the chimney. The damper designed for ordinary climates allowed too
much draught to be sucked through during the high winds which prevailed
continually.

The chimney was fitted with a cowl which had to be specially secured to
keep it in place. During heavy drifts the cowl became choked with snow
and ice, and the Hut would rapidly fill with smoke until some one,
hurriedly donning burberrys, rushed out with an ice-axe to chip an
outlet for the draught. The chimney was very short and securely stayed,
projecting through the lee side of the roof, where the pressure of the
wind was least felt.

The first good display of aurora polaris was witnessed during the
evening of March 12, though no doubt there had been other exhibitions
obscured by the drift. As the days went by and the equinox drew near,
auroral phenomena were with few exceptions visible on clear evenings. In
the majority of cases they showed up low in the northern sky.

In the midst of a torment of wind, March 15 came as a beautiful, sunny,
almost calm day. I remarked in my diary that it was "typical Antarctic
weather," thinking of those halcyon days which belong to the climate of
the southern shores of the Ross Sea. In Adelie Land, we were destined to
find, it was hard to number more than a dozen or two in the year.

A fine day! the psychological effect was remarkable; pessimism vanished,
and we argued that with the passing of the equinox there would be a
marked change for the better. Not a moment was lost: some were employed
in making anchorages for the wireless masts; others commenced to
construct a Hangar to house the air-tractor sledge.

In building the Hangar, the western wall of the Hut was used for one
side; the low southern end and the western wall were constructed of full
and empty cases, the lee side was closed with a tarpaulin and blocks
of snow and over all was nailed a roof of thick timber--part of the
air-tractor's case. To stiffen the whole structure, a small amount of
framework, in the form of heavy uprights, was set in the ground. The
dimensions inside wer