io6 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [1902- 



clear ice several feet below the surface, having melted their 

 way down. There was quite a torrent of water running down 

 past the Cathedral Rocks, where it flowed into a lake nearly 

 half a mile in diameter ; from there it ran in a rapid stream 

 past Descent Pass towards the sea. The water in this stream 

 was about nine inches deep and seven feet across, and on 

 measuring its speed I calculated the flow of water to be 

 about fifty-three tons per minute ; this was only one of many 

 streams.' 



On January 12 the party began to climb the steep slopes 

 of Descent Pass, and had to resort to their old device of 

 hauling the sledges up with the help of ropes and blocks. As 

 some parts of these slopes stood at an average angle of 45°, 

 the task proved so laborious that they did not reach the summit 

 of the pass till the evening of the 14th. From this time their 

 work was easy, and by the 17 th they had again reached the 

 sea level. Here they were fortunate enough to find numerous 

 seals basking on the ice, and it was not long before they 

 regaled themselves on fresh meat. 



The remainder of the journey was uneventful, and on the 

 nineteenth, when the party reached the ship, Macfarlane had 

 practically recovered, whilst the remainder were in the best of 

 health and condition. Some months elapsed before I was able 

 to go closely into the results of this journey, and by that time 

 unexpected circumstances had made it evident that we should 

 have a further chance of exploring the interesting region which 

 it had brought to our knowledge. By that time also the several 

 rock specimens which had been secured had passed into the 

 hands of the geologist. A rough map had been constructed 

 and a series of photographs taken by Skelton had been de- 

 veloped, all going to show the valuable information which the 

 party had collected, and opening an exceptionally interesting 

 field of investigation for a second visit to the region. 



There was no doubt that a practicable road to the interior 

 had been discovered and traversed, and that the grim barrier 

 of mountains which had seemed so formidable an obstruction 

 from the ship had been conquered, but the portion of this road 



