294 THE VOYAGE OF THE ' DISCOVERY ' [Aug. 



^August 23. — A glorious morning; have been away over 

 the hills, clambering along Arrival ridges on the sharp angular 

 stones heedless of the wear of my finneskoes, and sliding 

 down the snow-slopes regardless of the wear on other articles 

 of clothing. This latter has been a very common practice of 

 mine during the winter ; on the smooth hard snow one can get 

 up a capital speed without the assistance of a toboggan, but 

 the practice has meant the frequent renewal of a patch behind. 



' The air to-day was splendidly exhilarating, with a tempera- 

 ture of — 10° and a wind just sufficiently keen to make climbing 

 a pleasure. Erebus showed a column of golden smoke rising 

 perpendicularly for about five hundred feet and then streaming 

 horizontally to the east; to have had this splendid beacon 

 giving throughout our winter a continuous record of the upper 

 air currents is luck indeed. 



' What unique and glorious mountains we have about us ! 

 Nowhere else can there be such vast masses snowed to the 

 base, and hence possibly nowhere such great altitudes above 

 the snow-line. One wonders when the mountaineer, having 

 conquered all the peaks of the known world, will descend on 

 this lonely region, for here indeed lies a field where the bold- 

 ness of man might have play for many a year ; as parties could 

 be left and relieved in successive seasons with practical 

 certainty, the idea is by no means inconceivable. 



' To-day one could see the islets to the north looking very 

 black and grim ; besides the group of three or four some ten 

 miles away, there is a curious turtle-backed rock not more than 

 three or four miles from Castle Rock, and far across the strait 

 I could count five distinct islets bearing about W. by N. A 

 low bank of cloud to the north shut out the sun, whose 

 position was only marked by the intensity of the golden-red 

 glow above ; small fleecy intermediate clouds were floating 

 about Erebus, golden or grey as they passed from light to 

 shadow, 



' The scene is so rarely beautiful that on the hill-tops one 

 seems to breathe inspiration from the keen air, and one's 

 thoughts are compelled to soar out of the common groove ; but 



