NELSON AND RONNIKEN 173 



that we were walking between any formidable mountain- 

 ranges. Mounts Nelson and Ronniken were nothing 

 but two old pressure ridges that had been formed in 

 those far-off days when the mighty mass of ice had 

 pushed on with awful force without meeting hindrance 

 or resistance, until at this spot it met a superior power 

 that clove and splintered it, and set a bound to its further 

 advance. It must have been a frightful collision, like 

 the end of a world. But now it was over: peace an 

 air of infinite peace lay over it all. Nelson and 

 Ronniken were only two pensioned veterans. Regarded 

 as pressure ridges they were huge, raising their highest 

 summits over 100 feet in the air. Here in the valley 

 the surface round Nelson was quite filled up, while 

 Ronniken still showed a deep scar a fissure or 

 hollow. We approached it cautiously. It was not easy 

 to see how deep it was, and whether it had an invisible 

 connection with Nelson on the other side of the valley. 

 But this was not the case. On a closer examination 

 this deep cleft proved to have a solid, filled-up bottom. 

 Between the ridges the surface was perfectly flat, and 

 offered an excellent site for a dog-camp. 



Captain Nilsen and I had worked out a kind of pro- 

 gramme of the work to be done, and in this it was 

 decided that the dogs should be brought on to the 

 Barrier as quickly as possible, and there looked after by 

 two men. We chose this place for the purpose. The 

 old pressure ridges told the history of the spot plainly 



