imposing note-paper which was used for these occasions: the crest
consisted of a penguin standing on the South Pole with the southern
hemisphere underfoot, a garter surrounding this little picture inscribed
with "British Antarctic Expedition--'Terra Nova' R.Y.S." Alas, some of
the letters were never delivered, for death not only laid his hand upon
certain members of the Expedition, but also upon some of our older
friends, supporters, and subscribers.

One passed out of the hut hourly at least and, on moonlight nights
especially, one found something beautiful in the scenery about Cape
Evans. At full moon time everything turned silver, from towering Erebus
with gleaming sides to the smooth ice slopes of Ross Island in the
north-east, while away to the southward the high black Dellbridge Islands
thrust up from a sea of flat silver ice. Even the conical hills and the
majestic Castle Rock, fifteen miles away, stood out quite clearly on
occasions. The weirdest thing of all was to hear the dogs howling in the
middle of the night, they made one think of wolves and of Siberia.

All things considered, the winter passed quickly enough: we had three
lectures a week, and our professional occupations, our recreations and
different interests soon sped away the four months' winter darkness. The
lectures embraced the technical and the practical side of the Expedition;
thus, besides each of the scientific staff lecturing on his individual
subject, Oates gave us two lectures on the care and management of horses;
Scott outlined his plans for the great southern journey, giving probable
dates and explaining the system of supporting parties which he proposed
to employ; Ponting told us about Japan, and illustrated his subject with
beautiful slides made from photographs that he himself had taken; Bowers
lectured on Burma, until we longed to be there; and Meares gave us a
light but intensely interesting lecture on his adventures in the Lolo