chap, xxiv MOUNT HEDGEHOG 329 



the rib on which we were encamped. This ridge forms the 

 watershed of the district, and, running round to the NW., 

 ends in the little peak on the shore of the bay, which I had 

 ascended during our stay in Horn Sound. This basin is 

 occupied by the glacier which we ascended from the bay. 

 To the south of this ridge the ground falls gradually to a 

 low swampy tract of raised beach connected with an inden- 

 tation in the coast-line to the south. It is badly delineated 

 on the chart, and the axis of Mount Hedgehog, which runs 

 nearly north and south, is placed on the chart running in an 

 easterly and westerly direction. 



After photographing the peak and planning a line of 

 ascent, I left Trevor-Battye to sketch, and returned to camp 

 to look for the men who were bringing our supper. I 

 scanned the glacier in vain, and cursed my stupidity in 

 allowing them to take down the whole of our sixty-feet 

 rope, leaving us imprisoned on an island of rock, sur- 

 rounded by neve crevasses, covered with new snow. As 

 I watched for the men the fog gradually came up, 

 and, before long, it settled down upon us as thick as 

 ever. I realised that our brief chance of making the ascent 

 was gone. 



I was musing on the hollowness of life, when my atten- 

 tion was attracted by a moving object on the other side of 

 the tent. At first I thought it was a bear, but presently dis- 

 covered that it was our men returning from the opposite 

 direction to that in which I was looking for them. In spite 

 of my injunctions not to leave our track, they had tried a 

 short cut, which had landed them in the midst of the maze 

 of crevasses surrounding camp. Their appearance was de- 

 cidedly ludicrous. Bottolfsen, who had made the acquaint- 

 ance of the interior of five crevasses on his way up, was 

 plastered with snow to the eyes; he was hung all overwith 

 an odd assortment of objects — cooking-tins, biscuit-boxes, 



