The light was especially good to-day; the sun was directly reflected by a single twisted iridescent cloud in the north, a brilliant and most beautiful object.  The air was still, and it was very pleasant to hear the crisp sounds of our workers abroad.  The tones of voices, the swish of ski or the chipping of an ice pick carry two or three miles on such days—­more than once to-day we could hear the notes of some blithe singer—­happily signalling the coming of the spring and the sun.

This afternoon as I sit in the hut I find it worthy of record that two telephones are in use:  the one keeping time for Wright who works at the transit instrument, and the other bringing messages from Nelson at his ice hole three-quarters of a mile away.  This last connection is made with a bare aluminium wire and earth return, and shows that we should have little difficulty in completing our circuit to Hut Point as is contemplated.

Account of the Winter Journey

Wednesday, August 2.—­The Crozier Party returned last night after enduring for five weeks the hardest conditions on record.  They looked more weather-worn than anyone I have yet seen.  Their faces were scarred and wrinkled, their eyes dull, their hands whitened and creased with the constant exposure to damp and cold, yet the scars of frostbite were very few and this evil had never seriously assailed them.  The main part of their afflictions arose, and very obviously arose, from sheer lack of sleep, and to-day after a night’s rest our travellers are very different in appearance and mental capacity.

The story of a very wonderful performance must be told by the actors.  It is for me now to give but an outline of the journey and to note more particularly the effects of the strain which they have imposed on themselves and the lessons which their experiences teach for our future guidance.

Wilson is very thin, but this morning very much his keen, wiry self—­Bowers is quite himself to-day.  Cherry-Garrard is slightly puffy in the face and still looks worn.  It is evident that he has suffered most severely—­but Wilson tells me that his spirit never wavered for a moment.  Bowers has come through best, all things considered, and I believe he is the hardest traveller that ever undertook a Polar journey, as well as one of the most undaunted; more by hint than direct statement I gather his value to the party, his untiring energy and the astonishing physique which enables him to continue to work under conditions which are absolutely paralysing to others.  Never was such a sturdy, active, undefeatable little man.