A NEARER VIEW 31 



undoubtedly afford a good and even ascent, but it lay 

 too far to the north. It is of enormous extent, and 

 would prove interesting to explore. Crown Prince 

 Olav's Mountains looked less promising, but they also 

 lay too far to the north. A little to the west of south lay 

 an apparently good way up. The mountains nearest to 

 the Barrier did not seem to offer any great obstruction. 

 What one might find later, between Mounts Pedro Chris- 

 tophersen and Fridtjof Nansen, was not easy to say. 



On the 12th we reached 84° S. On that day we 

 made the interesting discovery of a chain of mountains 

 running to the east; this, as it appeared from the spot 

 where we were, formed a semicircle, where it joined 

 the mountains of South Victoria Land. This semicircle 

 lay true south, and our course was directed straight 

 towards it. 



In the depot in 84° S. we left, besides the usual 

 quantity of provisions for five men and twelve dogs for 

 four days, a can of paraffin, holding 17 litres (about 

 3f gallons) . We had abundance of matches, and could 

 therefore distribute them over all the depots. The Barrier 

 continued as flat as before, and the going was as good as 

 it could possibly be. We had thought that a day's rest 

 would be needed by the dogs for every degree of latitude, 

 but this proved superfluous; it looked as if they could 

 no longer be tired. One or two had shown signs of bad 

 feet, but were now perfectly well; instead of losing 

 strength, the dogs seemed to become stronger and more 



