Monday, June 14, 2010

13 June, 1911

A very beautiful day. We reveled in the calm, clear moonlight. The temperature has fallen to -26.

In such weather the cold splendor of the scene is beyond description; everything is satisfying, from the deep purple of the starry sky to the gleaming bergs and the sparkle of crystals underfoot.

Some very brilliant patches of aurora over the southern shoulder of the mountain. Observed an exceedingly bright meteor shoot across the sky to the northward.

Debenham and Gran are back from Cape Armitage. On arrival at the hut they found poor little Mukaka coiled up outside the door, looking pitifully thin and weak, but with enough energy to bark at them. That dog was ruin over and dragged for a long way under the sledge runners when we were landing stores back in January. He hasn't worked much since, and was a miserable object, hair refusing to grow on his hindquarters. I didn't know he;d even been left at the Hut until a few days ago, and had given up hope of ever seeing the poor beast again. It is extraordinary to realize that this poor, lame, half-clad animal has lived for a whole month by himself. He had blood on his mouth when found, implying the capture of a seal, but how he managed to kill it and then get through its skin is beyond comprehension. Hunger drives hard.

I wonder what would happen to me under such conditions. I hope never to meet them.




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