ASCENT OF SCOTT'S MOUNTAINS 245 



as our goal. All three of us went, leaving the dogs 

 in charge of the camp. They were not so fresh now 

 that they would not gladly accept all the rest that 

 was offered them. We had no need to fear any 

 invasion of strangers; the land we had come to ap- 

 peared to be absolutely devoid of living creatures of 

 any kind. 



The hill was farther off and higher than it appeared 

 at first; the aneroid showed a rise of 700 feet when 

 we reached the top. As our camp lay at a height of 

 1,000 feet, this gave us 1,700 feet as the height of this 

 hill above the sea. The side we went up was covered 

 by 7ieve, which, to judge from the depth of the 

 cracks, must have been immense. As we approached 

 the summit and our view over the surrounding ground 

 became wider, the belief that we should see so much as 

 a crag of tliis King Edward Land grew weaker and 

 weaker. There was nothing but white on every side, 

 not a single consolatory little black patch, however 

 carefully we looked. And to think that we had been 

 dreaming of great mountain masses in the style of 

 McMurdo Sound, with sunny slopes, penguins by the 

 thousand, seals and all the rest! All these visions were 

 slowly but surely sunk in an endless sea of snow, and 

 when at last we stood on the highest point, we certainly 

 thought there could be no chance of a revival of our 

 hopes. 



But the unexpected happened after all. On the 



