The winter had now arrived in real earnest, and the months which followed were punctuated by a succession of gales, while we came to recognize that it was an exceptional day when the hills were not shrouded in mist. The only thing to do was to brace oneself up for the ordeal and to put a good foot forward.
CHAPTER XXVI A LAND OF STORM AND MIST
by G. F. Ainsworth
A Heavy north-west gale was experienced on April 12, the wind attaining a force of over fifty miles an hour.
As usual, a tremendous sea worked up very quickly, and sheets of spray shredded across the isthmus. About 2 P.M. the wind shifted to west and later to south-west; these changes being accompanied by fierce hail and squalls of snow. During the night the wind moderated, heavy snow fell and, when morning dawned, all the pools were frozen over and the island was draped in white. It was the heaviest fall we had so far experienced.
On the 15th Hamilton and I shot several gulls for specimens.
The Dominican or black-backed gulls are very numerous and remain on the island all the year round. They are rather pretty, being snow-white, except on the upper part of the wings and back. Ordinarily their food is obtained from the water, but at Macquarie Island they live almost entirely upon the carcases left by the sealers, and are usually seen defending their rights against skuas and giant petrels. They build nests of tussock on rocks close to the water or maybe on the ground. Three eggs, much like those of the skua in colour, but with a greener tint and smaller, are laid, but generally only two are hatched. The young leave the nest early and hide amongst the rocks, whither the old ones come to feed them.
We now considered it advisable to prepare for the winter, and with that end in view papered the inside of the Shack in various places. As the cold winds were particularly searching, all faulty joints in the lining were pasted over with any kind of paper we could find. A leak down the outside of the stove-pipe was remedied, after a good deal of trouble, by soldering a collar round the pipe where it passed through the roof. Firing was an important consideration, so each man now brought home several loads of driftwood every day, until we had enough to keep us going for some months. There was a complete boot-mending outfit which was put to a good deal of use, for the weathered rocks cut the soles of our boots and knocked out the hobnails. Our supply of the last-named did not last long, and several of the party used strips of hoop-iron in their stead.
Blake found it necessary to make a kind of work-desk in his section, and accordingly had a thorough rearrangement. He shifted his bunk up to a height of about five and a half feet, very close to the ceiling; a fact which necessitated some wriggling and squirming on his part to get into the sleeping-bag. There was a fine open space left underneath, and he managed to fix up his table very neatly.