178 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Nov. 



to-night looks out on the broad amphitheatre above them 

 where the glacier sweeps round from the upper reach. On 

 our left is the Finger Mountain, a precipitous mass of rock 

 showing the most extraordinary " fault " in that yellow-banded 

 structure which now seems to surround us on every side.' 

 The reader will understand the significance of this fault from 

 Mr. Ferrar's notes on the Beacon Sandstone formation. 



* Finger Mountain forms the pivot about which the glacier 

 turns, and the great difference in the level of the ice above and 

 below the mountain is taken by two heavy broken falls. We 

 are encamped under the lower and smaller one, but the upper, 

 some three or four miles beyond, is a magnificent mass of 

 twisted, torn ice-blocks. To-morrow we have to rise over these 

 falls, but I propose to take a very roundabout way to avoid 

 difficulties. 



' The scene behind us is glorious ; we look down now on 

 the great glacier basin with the dark rugged mountains that 

 surround it, and far away beyond, the summit of Mount Lister 

 shows above a bank of twisted sunlit cloud. But, alas ! 

 pleasant as it is to look at this beautiful scene, trouble is 

 never far from us, and this afternoon we have had our full 

 share. First one sledge-runner gave out and then another, 

 and we arrived at camp with three out of four disabled. Now, 

 however, there is a fixed determination in the party to get 

 through somehow, and each difficulty only serves to show more 

 clearly their resourcefulness. This particular trouble has called 

 on the metal workers, and no sooner had we halted and un- 

 packed the sledges than Skelton and Lashly were hard at work 

 with pliers, files, and hammers stripping off the torn metal and 

 lapping fresh pieces over the weak places. They have estab- 

 lished a little workshop in this wild spot, and for hours the 

 scrape of the file and the tap of the hammer have feebly broken 

 the vast silence. 



' We have hopes of the lapping process which is now being 

 effected, but it needs very careful fitting ; each separate piece 

 of metal protection is made to overlap the piece behind it, like 

 slates on a roof ! I should doubt whether such work could 



