CHAPTER XI 



THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS 



On the following day — November 17 — we began the 

 ascent. To provide for any contingency, I left in the 

 depot a paper with information of the way we intended 

 to take through the mountains, together with our plan 

 for the future, our outfit, provisions, etc. The weather 

 was fine, as usual, and the going good. The dogs ex- 

 ceeded our expectations; they negotiated the two fairly 

 steep slopes at a jog-trot. We began to think there 

 was no difficulty they could not surmount; the five 

 miles or so that we had gone the day before, and 

 imagined would be more than enough for this day's 

 journey, were now covered with full loads in shorter 

 time. The small glaciers higher up turned out fairly 

 steep, and in some places we had to take two sledges 

 at a time with double teams. These glaciers had an 

 appearance of being very old, and of having entirely 

 ceased to move. There were no new crevasses to be 

 seen; those that there were, were large and wide, but 

 their edges were rounded off everywhere, and the 

 crevasses themselves were almost entirely filled with 

 VOL. II. 41 29 



