AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAINS 33 



ascent, which we had chosen long ago and now had our 

 eyes fixed upon as we went, would take us a trifle to 

 the west of south, but so little that the digression was 

 of no account. The semicircle we saw to the south made 

 a more disquieting impression, and looked as if it would 

 offer great irregularities. On the following day the 

 character of the surface began to change; great wave- 

 like formations seemed to roll higher and higher as they 

 approached the land, and in one of the troughs of these 

 we found the surface greatly disturbed. At some 

 bygone time immense fissures and chasms would have 

 rendered its passage practically impossible, but now 

 they were all drifted up, and we had no difficulty in 

 crossing. 



That day — November 15 — we reached 85° S., and 

 camped at the top of one of these swelling waves. The 

 valley we were to cross next day was fairly broad, and 

 rose considerably on the other side. On the west, in 

 the direction of the nearest land, the undulation rose to 

 such a height that it concealed a great part of the land 

 from us. During the afternoon we built the usual 

 depot, and continued our journey on the following day. 

 As we had seen from our camping-ground, it was an 

 immense undulation that we had to traverse ; the ascent 

 on the other side felt uncomfortably warm in the power- 

 ful sun, but it was no higher than 300 feet by the 

 aneroid. From the top of this wave the Barrier 

 stretched away before us, flat at first, but we could 



