44 THROUGH THE MOUXTAINS 



We debated next morning whether it would not be 

 better to take the sledges two by two to begin with; 

 the glacier before us looked quite steep enough to 

 require double teams. It had a rise of 2,000 feet in 

 quite a short distance. But we would try first with the 

 single teams. The dogs had shown that their capabili- 

 ties were far above our expectation ; perhaj^s thej'' would 

 be able to do even this. We crept off. The ascent 

 began at once — good exercise after a quart of chocolate. 

 We did not get on fast, but we won our way. It often 

 looked as if the sledge would stop, but a shout from the 

 driver and a sharp crack of the whip kept the dogs on 

 the move. It was a fine beginning to the day, and we 

 gave them a well-deserved rest when we got up. We 

 then drove in through the narrow pass and out on the 

 other side. It was a magnificent panorama that oj^ened 

 before us. From the pass we had come out on to a 

 very small flat terrace, which a few yards farther on 

 began to drop steeply to a long valley. Round about 

 us lav summit after summit on every side. We had 

 now come behind the scenes, and could get our bearings 

 better. We now saw the southern side of the immense 

 Mount Nansen; Don Pedro Christophersen we could 

 see in his full length. Between these two mountains 

 we could follow the course of the glacier that rose in 

 terraces along their sides. It looked fearfully broken 

 and disturbed, but we could follow a little connected 

 line among the many crevasses; we saw that we could 



