ON THE SEABOARD 241 



As will be seen later, our respected precursor was 

 right. 



In order to examine the nature of the seaboard, we 

 began by steering down towards it; but in the mean- 

 time the weather underwent an unfavourable change. 

 The sky clouded over and the light became as vile as it 

 could be. The point we were anxious to clear up was 

 whether there was any Barrier wall here, or whether the 

 land and sea-ice gradually passed into each other in an 

 easy slope. As the light was, there might well have 

 been a drop of 100 feet without our seeing anything 

 of it. Securely roped together we made our way down, 

 until our progress was stopped by a huge pressure- 

 ridge, which, as far as could be made out, formed the 

 boundary between land and sea-ice. It was, however, 

 impossible in the circumstances to get any clear view 

 of the surroundings, and after trudging back to the 

 sledges, which had been left up on the slope, we turned 

 to the east to make a closer examination of the summits 

 already mentioned. I went in front, as usual, in the 

 cheerful belief that we had a fairly level stretch before 

 us, but I was far out in my calculation. My ski began 

 to slip along at a terrific speed, and it was advisable to 

 put on the brake. This was easily done as far as I was 

 concerned, but with the dogs it was a different matter. 

 Nothing could stop them when they felt that the sledge 

 was running by its own weight; they went in a wild 

 gallop down the slope, the end of which could not at 



