I902] DECEPTIVE LIGHT 391 



bank, and the larger ice-hillocks look like ranges of high 

 mountains.' 



Looking back on this day, I cannot but think our procedure 

 was extremely rash. I have not the least doubt now that this 

 region was a very dangerous one, and the fact that we essayed 

 to cross it in this light hearted fashion can only be ascribed to 

 our ignorance. With us, I am afraid, there were not a few 

 occasions when one might have applied the proverb that 

 ' Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' 



The bad light to which I have referred was a very constant 

 source of trouble to us on our travels. It came when the sky — 

 as was very usual — was completely overcast with a uniform pall 

 of stratus cloud ; under such a sky there would only be diffused 

 light, and no direct rays to cast a shadow. It can be easily 

 understood that on a snow surface the only thing that can 

 indicate an inequality is shadow ; consequently on these grey 

 days it was impossible, within limits, to see what was coming 

 next. Bad light does not, therefore, mean insufficiency of light, 

 because on such occasions one could see dark objects at a long 

 distance, and there was quite enough light both outside and 

 inside the tent for all camping purposes. 



' September 29 (continued). — . . . After lunch the sun 

 peeped through the cloudy mantle, and with some difficulty 

 we managed to push out a mile or two, when the undulations 

 and upheavals of ice gradually disappeared, though the crevasses 

 remained. The broader ones were safe to cross, being filled 

 with snow, except at the edges, where a leg was likely to 

 disappear with a false step. This seems to show that they are 

 ever widening. The dangerous crevasses are those from three 

 to four feet in width, as they are covered only with light snow- 

 bridges, which, when broken away, disclose chasms between 

 perpendicular blue ice-walls of unknown depth. These walls 

 are crusted with branching growths of ice-crystals, very beautiful 

 in form, but which prevent one from seeing more than a few 

 fathoms down. 



'To-night when we camped I warmed a thermometer, ran 

 up its indicator and lowered it at the end of our Alpine rope 



