I04 THE VOYACxE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [1902- 



two miles ; this was the highest elevation we reached, being 

 about 9,000 feet. We then proceeded along a dead level for 

 two miles, then we gradually descended thirty feet in a mile. 

 At this point we stopped ; the weather was beautifully clear, 

 and observations showed that the horizon was rather below our 

 level in every direction except to the north and north-east, 

 whence we had come. On all sides the surface was quite 

 smooth, and there was very little sign of wind ; it looked as 

 though the plateau on which we stood was the summit of the 

 ice-cap.' 



On the 6th the party started to return, and whilst descend- 

 ing the upper falls met with an incident which shows the 

 treacherous nature of the irregular snow-slopes over which 

 they were travelling. I quote the story from Armitage's 

 report : ' We descended the upper falls with ease, and whilst 

 crossing the smooth ice at their foot I was talking casually to 

 Skelton when I suddenly became conscious that I was taking 

 a dive, then I felt a violent blow on my right thigh, and all the 

 breath seemed to be shaken out of my body. Instinctively I 

 thrust out my elbows and knees, and then saw that I was some 

 little way down a crevasse. It w^as about four feet wide where 

 I was, but broadened to the right and left of me; below it 

 widened into a huge fathomless cavern. Skelton sang out that 

 my harness had held, and threw down the end of the Alpine 

 rope with a bowline in it. I slipped this over my shoulders, 

 and was hauled up with a series of jerks, and landed on the 

 surface, feeling rather as though I had been cut in two and 

 with not a gasp left in me. They told me that below my face 

 had appeared to them to be covered in blood ; the force of 

 my fall had scattered everyone right and left and pulled the 

 sledges up to the brink of the chasm, so that I was let down 

 about twelve feet. It shook me up very much, and I could 

 only hobble very lamely after the sledges as we proceeded on 

 towards the camp where Macfarlane had been left.' After this 

 the party continued to descend, following more or less the 

 track by which they had come. Macfarlane, who had shown 

 some signs of improvement, had further trouble with hi$ 



