Cape Evans, Winter Quarters. The sledging season is at an end. It’s good to be back in spite of all the losses we have sustained.

To-day we enjoy a very exceptional calm. The sea is freezing over of course, but unfortunately our view from Observatory Hill is very limited. Oates and the rest are exercising the ponies. I have been sorting my papers and getting ready for the winter work.

When this was finished, we began to work on the carpenter’s shop. This had to be dug considerably deeper, as the drift was rounded off a little to the side. We therefore dug first into the drift, and then right down; as far as I remember, we went 6 feet down into the Barrier here. The shop was made roomy, with space enough for both carpenters and length enough for our sledges. The planing-bench was...

In comfort once more. The hut is a very different thing now to what it was when we left it in January.

Acetylene gas jets everywhere, stoves, clothes lines, clocks, telephones, electric gadgets, and scientific apparatus everywhere, all in full working order. Sunny Jim, Day and Nelson...

Calm, good weather for a change. The sledge party has dried out its gear, and Teddy and I have kept on with our cartography.