Then I must not forget the greatest treat of all:  an exhibition of slides showing the life about our winter quarters and the general work of the Expedition from the starting away in New Zealand to this actual day almost in the hut.  The slides were wonderful and they showed every stage of the ice through which we had come and in which we lived.  There were penguin pictures, whales and seals, bird life in the pack, flash light photographs of people and ponies, pictures of Erebus and other splendid and familiar landmarks, and, in short, a magnificent pictorial record of events, for Ponting had been everywhere with his camera, and it is only to be regretted that the Expedition did not take him to the Pole.  This was, of course, impossible, when everything had to give way to food.  Following the photographic display and the Christmas Tree came the only Antarctic dance we enjoyed.  Few of us remember much about it for we were very merry, thanks to the wine, and there was considerable horseplay.  I remember dancing with the cook whilst Oates danced with Anton.  Everybody took a turn, and associated with this dance I might mention that Clissold so far forgot himself as to call Scott “Good old Truegg.”  Truegg was the composition used by us for cooking in various ways omelets, buttered eggs, puddings, and cakes of all kinds, and, although it was a great boon to the Expedition, we had by this time tired of it.  Still, we used it as a term of endearment, but nobody in his sober senses would have dreamt of calling our much respected Commander “Good old Truegg”; the brandy punch must have been responsible for Clissold’s mixing up of names!  We had now arrived at the stage when it was time to shut up, the officers became interested in an aurora display and gradually rolled off to bed.  It was left to me to see the seamen turned in; they were good-humoured but obstreperous, and not until 2 a.m. did silence and order once more reign in the hut.

Very wisely our leader decided on June 23 being kept as a day of rest; our digestions were upset and we took this time off to make and mend clothes, and returned to our winter routine, a little subdued perhaps, on June 24.

CHAPTER IX

PRELIMINARY EXPLORATIONS

So much for the winter life up to date; no great excitements, nothing untoward, but a remarkable bonhomie obtaining in our little company despite the tedium of so many days of winter gloom.  On June 27 Dr. Wilson with Bowers and Cherry-Garrard started on a remarkable journey to Cape Crozier, nearly seventy miles distant from Cape Evans, via Hut Point and the Barrier.  The object of these intrepid souls was to observe the incubation of the Emperor Penguins at their rookery, which was known to exist near the junction point of the Barrier Edge with the rocky cliff south of Cape Crozier.  It must be borne in mind that this was the first Antarctic midwinter journey, and that the