292 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Aug. 



sky-line, passes on over the high outline of Black Island, if island 

 it is, and then rises and traverses the lofty peaked cone of 

 Mount Discovery, from which it falls slightly to an elevated 

 saddle-back ; and then suddenly it travels to a far greater 

 distance, and towards the south-west it rests on very distant 

 hills in front of which a huge glacier descends to sea-level. 

 Here one pauses to consider, for this also may be a direction 

 of promise. Can this be the road to the west, the path by 

 which we shall pierce that rock-bound coastline ? Again one 

 sees the futility of speculation : we must go and see. 



* Meanwhile the eye has passed on to scan that great 

 frowning range of mountains to the west which has looked 

 down on us in such ghostly, weird fashion throughout the 

 winter months. Seen now in the daylight, what a wild con- 

 fusion of peaks and precipices, foothills, snow-fields, and glaciers 

 it presents ! How vast it all is ! and how magnificent must 

 be those mountains when one is close beneath them ! But 

 what of our travellers to the west ? Here the sky-line runs 

 from peak to peak with ridges that can rarely dip below 

 12,000 feet, and it is beyond hope that they can scale to such 

 heights. 



* But northward of west these lofty ridges fall again, and 

 the ranges which stretch on beyond till they are lost in the 

 fiery glow of the sun are lower than this monstrous pile to the 

 west. Perhaps it is in this direction that we shall conquer the 

 western land. It is to the west more than anywhere one 

 realises the impossibility of understanding the conditions until 

 our parties have been forth to face them ; that there will be 

 immense difficulties there can be little doubt. To expect to 

 find a smooth and even road in that great chaos of hills and 

 glaciers would be to expect the impossible, and I feel that if 

 we ever do get beyond those mountains we shall have deserved 

 well of our country. 



' Not more than fifteen miles away in this direction one can 

 see the long shadow marking the decayed pinnacled ice which 

 puzzled us so much as we approached our winter quarters. 

 One cannot trace the position and direction of its origin, but 



