187G BEAUMONT'S RETURN JOURNEY. 105 



the view was magnificent, elevation 3,700 feet, but I 

 did not see what I wanted. The Mount Hooker Land 

 hid the islands, and the Cape Buttress Channel was 

 shut in. Mount Albert I could see was a separate 

 island. Cape Britannia, as far as could be seen, had 

 very high land far back. Stephenson Land was quite 

 hidden behind Mount Hooker Land, which latter 

 towards Cape Buttress extended very far back to 

 the eastward. Cape Buttress overlapped it, but inside 

 and above the cape could be seen either a hummocky 

 floe, or a mer cle glace, it looked like a floe, but its sky- 

 line had a perceptible curve in it — a haze hung over 

 this part. By the look of the land and shore a passage 

 seemed to connect St. George's Fiord with St. Andrew's 

 Bay. St. George's Fiord could be traced continuing 

 to the south after making a slight bend to the west. 

 The view inland in that direction stretched away with- 

 out a break as far as the eye could reach, all much 

 about the same elevation. Mount Punch stood out 

 from most of the other mountains, and Grant's Land 

 was distinctly visible, the United States' Bange being 

 very conspicuous. The view was so immense that to 

 sketch it would have been the work of a clay. I tried 

 after having taken a round of angles, but the cold was 

 intense, and my fingers soon became stiff ; rising clouds 

 warned us to descend, and by the time that we reached 

 the tent, twelve hours after starting, it was blowing- 

 fresh with thick snow and fog. After a short rest we 

 once more started, making for Cape Fulford ; the 

 gloomy and unfavourable weather had a depressing 

 influence on the men's spirits, who, poor fellows, were 

 already rather desponding, for out of seven only Gray 



