Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/107

Our feet gave us very little trouble indeed, except on the march, when they were often too cold for safety during slow and heavy plodding in soft snow. We always changed our footgear before eating our supper, and to this we attribute the fact that we seldom had cold feet at night, even at the worst.

Saturday, July 29, 1911.—We got away before daylight and marched a good soft plod all day, making 6½ miles. Subsidences were frequent, and at lunch the whole tent and contents, myself included, as I was cook for the day, dropped suddenly with a perceptible bump, and with so long and loud a reverberation all round that we all stood and listened for some minutes. Cherry said it started when his foot went through some snow under the top crust, not when he was digging through this crust. The central subsidence set off innumerable others all round and these others in continually widening circles, and the noise took quite two or three minutes to die away.

We had no wind to-day, calm and southerly airs only, and a temp. ranging from −42° a.m. to −45·3° p.m.

There was an aurora all night, and at 3 a.m. Bowers noted a brilliant variegated curtain, altitude 30° to 60°, extending from the N.E. to about S.S.W., with much motion in the rays, and with orange and green well defined.

Sunday, July 30, 1911.—We had a day of perfect weather and good travelling and covered 7½ miles. The amount of daylight during this and the preceding two days has been surprisingly great, and enabled us to see a tremendous amount of detail in the hills and snow