her extremity, was on the edge of a
furious vortex.

Travelling over the sea the whirlies displayed fresh capabilities.
Columns of brash-ice, frozen spray and water-vapour were frequently seen
lifted to heights of from two hundred to four hundred feet, simulating
water spouts.

Reverting to the afternoon of March 19. Beyond the strange stillness of
the immediate vicinity, broken occasionally by the tumult of a passing,
wandering whirly, an incessant, seething roar could be heard. One could
not be certain from whence it came, but it seemed to proceed either
from the south or overhead. Away on the icy promontories to the east and
west, where the slopes were visible, mounting to an altitude of several
thousand feet, clouds of drift-snow blotted out the details of the
surface above a level of about six hundred feet. It certainly appeared
as if the gale, for some reason, had lifted and was still raging
overhead. At 7.30 P.M. the sound we had heard, like the distant lashing
of ocean waves, became louder. Soon gusts swept the tops of the rocky
ridges, gradually descending to throw up the snow at a lower level.
Then a volley raked the Hut, and within a few minutes we were once more
enveloped in a sea of drifting snow, and the wind blew stronger than
ever.

The duration of the lulls was ordinarily from a few minutes to several
hours; that of March 19 was longer than usual. In the course of time,
after repeated observations, much light was thrown on this phenomenon.
On one occasion, a party ascending the ice slopes to the south met the
wind blowing at an elevation of four hundred feet. At the same time
snow could be seen pouring over the "Barrier" to the west of the Winter
Quarters, and across a foaming turmoil of water. This was evidently the
main cause of the seething roar, but it was mingled with an undernote
of deeper tone from the upland plateau--like the wind in a million
tree-tops.

In the early spring, while we were transporting provisions to the
south, frequent journeys were made to higher elevations. It was then
established that even when whole days of calm prevailed at the Hut, the
wind almost without exception blew above a level of one thousand
feet. On such occasions it appeared that the gale was impelled to blow
straight out from the plateau slopes over a lower stratum of dead-air.
An explanation was thereby afforded of the movement of condensation
clouds which appeared in the zenith at these times. A formation