238 THE EASTERN SLEDGE JOURNEY 



under them. Luckily the harness held, so that it was 

 the affair of a moment to pull the poor beasts up again. 

 Even a dog might well be expected to be a trifle shaken 

 after hanging head downwards over such a fearful chasm ; 

 but apparently they took it very calmly, and were quite 

 prepared to do the same thing over again. 



For my own part I looked out more carefully after 

 this, and although there were a good many ugly fissures 

 on the remaining part of the ascent, we crossed them all 

 without further incident. 



Unpleasant as these crevasses are, they do not involve 

 any direct danger, so long as the weather is clear and the 

 light favourable. One can then judge by the appearance 

 of the surface whether there is danger ahead; and if 

 crevasses are seen in time, there is always a suitable 

 crossing to be found. The case is somewhat different in 

 fog, drift, or when the light is such that the small 

 inequalities marking the course of the crevasse do not 

 show up. This last is often the case in cloudy weather, 

 when even a fairly prominent rise will not be noticed on 

 the absolutely white surface until one fails over it. In 

 such conditions it is safest to feel one's way forward with 

 the ski-pole; though this mode of proceeding is more 

 troublesome than effective. 



In the course of the 28th the ascent came to an end, 

 and with it the crevasses. The wind fell quite light, and 

 the blinding drift was succeeded by clear sunshine. We 

 liad now come sufficiently high up to have a view of the 



