A GLORIOUS LANDMARK 87 



were well pleased with the day's work. The altitude 

 was 8,960 feet above the sea. The sun was now in the 

 west, and shining directly upon the huge mountain 

 masses. It was a fairy landscape in blue and white, 

 red and black, a play of colours that defies description. 

 Clear as it now appeared to be, one could understand 

 that the weather was not all that could be wished, for 

 the south-eastern end of Mount Thorvald Nilsen lost 

 itself in a dark, impenetrable cloud, which led one to 

 suspect a continuation in that direction, though one 

 could not be certain. 



Mount Nilsen — ah! anything more beautiful, taking 

 it altogether, I have never seen. Peaks of the most 

 varied forms rose high into the air, partly covered with 

 driving clouds. Some were sharp, but most were long 

 and rounded. Here and there one saw bright, shining 

 glaciers plunging wildly down the steep sides, and 

 merging into the underlying ground in fearful confusion. 

 But the most remarkable of them all was Mount Helmer 

 Hanssen ; its top was as round as the bottom of a bowl, 

 and covered by an extraordinary ice-sheet, which was 

 so broken up and disturbed that the blocks of ice bristled 

 in every direction like the quills of a porcupine. It 

 glittered and burned in the sunlight — a glorious spec- 

 tacle. There could only be one such mountain in the 

 world, and as a landmark it was priceless. We knew 

 that we could not mistake that, however the sur- 

 roundings might appear on the return journey, when 



