ON THE GREAT GLACIER 47 



second relay went somewhat more easily in the tracks 

 made by the first. 



Our height here was 4,550 feet, the last ascent having 

 brought us up 1,250 feet; we had arrived on a plateau, 

 and after the dogs had rested we continued our march. 

 Now, as we advanced, we had a better view of the way 

 we were going; before this the nearest mountains had 

 shut us in. The mighty glacier opened out before us, 

 stretching, as we could now see, right up from the 

 Barrier between the lofty mountains running east and 

 west. It was by this glacier that we should have to 

 gain the plateau; we could see that. We had one 

 more descent to make before reacliing it, and from 

 above we could distinguish the edges of some big gaps 

 in this descent, and found it prudent to examine it first. 

 As we thought, there was a side-glacier coming down 

 into it, with large, ugly crevasses in many places; but 

 it was not so bad as to prevent our finally reaching, 

 with caution and using good brakes, the great main 

 ice-field — Axel Heiberg Glacier. The plan we had 

 proposed to ourselves was to work our way up to the 

 place where the glacier rose in abrupt masses between 

 the two mountains. The task we had undertaken 

 was greater than we thought. In the first place, the 

 distance was three times as great as any of us had 

 believed; and, in the second place, the snow was so 

 loose and deep that it was hard work for the dogs after 

 all their previous efforts. We set our course along the 



