inlets which could be opened or shut at will to control the ventilation.
Besides a big ventilator in the top of the hut there was an adjustable
air inlet also at the base of the chamber which formed the junction of
the two chimneys. The purpose of this was also ventilation, but it was
not successful.

The bulkhead which separated the men's quarters, or mess deck, from the
rest of the hut, was formed of such cases as contained goods in glass,
including wine, which would have frozen and broken outside. The bulkhead
did not go as high as the top of the hut. When the contents of a case
were wanted, a side of the box was taken out, and the empty case then
formed a shelf.

We started to live in the hut on January 18, beautifully warm, the
gramophone going, and everybody happy. But for a long time before this
most of the landing party had been living in tents on shore. It was very
comfortable, far more so than might be supposed, judging only by the
popular idea of a polar life. We were now almost landed, there were just
a few things more to come over from the ship. "It was blowing a mild
blizzard from the south, and I took a sledge over to the ship, which was
quite blotted out in blinding snow at times. It was as hard to get an
empty sledge over, as generally it is to drag a full one. Tea on the
ship, which was very full of welcome, but also very full of the
superiority of their own comforts over those of the land. Their own
comforts were not so very obvious, since they had tried to get the stove
in the wardroom going for the first time. They were all coughing in the
smoke, and everything inside was covered with smuts."[104]

The hut itself was some twelve feet above the sea, and situated upon what
was now an almost sandy beach of black lava. It was thought that this was