170 ON THE BARRIER 



Barrier shows an even, flat surface ; but here, inside the 

 bay, the conditions were entirely different. Even from 

 the deck of the Fram we were able to observe great 

 disturbances of the surface in every direction; huge 

 ridges with hollows between them extended on all sides. 

 The greatest elevation lay to the south in the form of 

 a lofty, arched ridge, which we took to be about 

 500 feet high on the horizon. But it might be assumed 

 that this ridge continued to rise beyond the range of 

 vision. 



Our original hypothesis that this bay was due to 

 underlying land seemed, therefore, to be immediately 

 confirmed. It did not take long to moor the vessel to 

 the fixed ice-foot, which here extended for about a mile 

 and a quarter beyond the edge of the Barrier. Every- 

 thing had been got ready long before. Bjaaland had 

 put our ski in order, and every man had had his right 

 pairs fitted. Ski-boots had long ago been tried on, time 

 after time, sometimes with one, sometimes with two 

 pairs of stockings. Of course it turned out that the ski- 

 boots were on the small side. To get a bootmaker to 

 make roomy boots is, I believe, an absolute impossibility. 

 However, with two pairs of stockings we could always 

 get along in the neighbourhood of the ship. For longer 

 journeys we had canvas boots, as already mentioned. 



Of the remainder of our outfit I need only mention 

 the Alpine ropes, which had also been ready for some 

 time. They were about 30 yards long, and were made 



