Ponting has been ravished yesterday by a view of the ship seen from a big cave in an iceberg, and wished to get pictures of it.  He succeeded in getting some splendid plates.  This fore-noon I went to the iceberg with him and agreed that I had rarely seen anything more beautiful than this cave.  It was really a sort of crevasse in a tilted berg parallel to the original surface; the strata on either side had bent outwards; through the back the sky could be seen through a screen of beautiful icicles—­it looked a royal purple, whether by contrast with the blue of the cavern or whether from optical illusion I do not know.  Through the larger entrance could be seen, also partly through icicles, the ship, the Western Mountains, and a lilac sky; a wonderfully beautiful picture.

Ponting is simply entranced with this view of Mt.  Erebus, and with the two bergs in the foreground and some volunteers he works up foregrounds to complete his picture of it.

I go to bed very satisfied with the day’s work, but hoping for better results with the improved organisation and familiarity with the work.

To-day we landed the remainder of the woodwork of the hut, all the petrol, paraffin and oil of all descriptions, and a quantity of oats for the ponies besides odds and ends.  The ponies are to begin work to-morrow; they did nothing to-day, but the motor sledges did well—­they are steadying down to their work and made nothing but non-stop runs to-day.  One begins to believe they will be reliable, but I am still fearing that they will not take such heavy loads as we hoped.

Day is very pleased and thinks he’s going to do wonders, and Nelson shares his optimism.  The dogs find the day work terribly heavy and Meares is going to put them on to night work.

The framework of the hut is nearly up; the hands worked till 1 A.M. this morning and were at it again at 7 A.M.—­an instance of the spirit which actuates everyone.  The men teams formed of the after-guard brought in good loads, but they are not yet in condition.  The hut is about 11 or 12 feet above the water as far as I can judge.  I don’t think spray can get so high in such a sheltered spot even if we get a northerly gale when the sea is open.

In all other respects the situation is admirable.  This work makes one very tired for Diary-writing.

Friday, January 6.—­We got to work at 6 again this morning.  Wilson, Atkinson, Cherry-Garrard, and I took each a pony, returned to the ship, and brought a load ashore; we then changed ponies and repeated the process.  We each took three ponies in the morning, and I took one in the afternoon.

Bruce, after relief by Rennick, took one in the morning and one in the afternoon—­of the remaining five Oates deemed two unfit for work and three requiring some breaking in before getting to serious business.

I was astonished at the strength of the beasts I handled; three out of the four pulled hard the whole time and gave me much exercise.  I brought back loads of 700 lbs. and on one occasion over 1000 lbs.