KING EDWARD LAND 239 



sea far to the north-west. During the high wind a 

 quantity of ice had been driven southward, so that for 

 a great distance there was no open water to be seen, but 

 a number of huge icebergs. From the distance of thq 

 sea horizon we guessed our height to be about 1,000 feet, 

 and in the evening the hypsometer showed the guess to 

 be very nearly right. 



November 29. — Weather and going all that could be 

 wished on breaking camp this morning; before us we 

 had a level plateau, which appeared to be quite free from 

 unpleasant obstructions. When we halted for the noon 

 observation the sledge-meter showed ten geographical 

 miles, and before evening we had brought the day's 

 distance up to twenty. The latitude was then 77° 32'. 

 The distance to the Barrier edge on the north was, at a 

 guess, about twenty geographical miles. We were now 

 a good way along the peninsula, the northern point of 

 which Captain Scott named Cape Colbeck, and at the same 

 time a good way to the east of the meridian in which he 

 put land-shading on his chart. Our height above the sea, 

 which was now about 1,000 feet, was evidence enough 

 that we had firm land under us, but it was still sheathed 

 in ice. In that respect the landscape offered no change 

 from what we had learnt to know by the name of 

 " Barrier." It cannot be denied that at this juncture 

 I began to entertain a certain doubt of the existence of 

 bare land in this quarter. 



This doubt was not diminished when we had done 



