1903] WIND FROM THE SUMMIT 179 



be done by people unaccustomed to dealing with these 

 matters.' 



'•November 2. — This morning it was perfectly calm and 

 still, with a bright sun and the temperature at + 2°. There 

 was little difficulty in finishing off our repairing work, and when 

 the sledges were ready we started to march upwards again. 



' We steered well to the eastward to make a wide circuit of 

 Finger Mountain and its dangerous ice-falls, and on this course 

 gradually approached the northern limit of the great amphi- 

 theatre beyond. The precipitous mountains that fringe this 

 limit show in the clearest and most beautiful manner the 

 horizontal stratification of their rocks, and now there can be 

 no doubt that this simple, banded structure is common to the 

 whole region about us, and that the sharp clear lines of the 

 strata are singularly free from faulting. 



' In ascending we gradually passed from hard ice to snow. 

 Apparently there is a considerable snowfall in this amphi- 

 theatre; it has made our pulling much harder, but, on the 

 other hand, it saves our sledge-runners from injury, and the 

 more we can get of it the better we shall be pleased. After 

 lunch we passed on to ice again, and the wind sprang up. 

 Coming at first in eddying gusts, it increased with great 

 rapidity, and very soon we were all getting frost-bitten. It 

 was obviously desirable to camp as soon as possible, but never 

 a patch of snow could be seen, and we pushed on with all 

 haste towards the base of the mountains and the fringing 

 moraines of the glacier. We had to search long amongst 

 the latter before we could find the least sign of snow, and 

 when at length we found some, it was so hard that it took us 

 nearly an hour to get our tents up. 



' We are now at the base of the upper glacier reach. From 

 here it rises directly to the inland, and it is over this broad 

 surface that the wind seems to sweep perpetually. The whole 

 valley is very ugly with wind and driving snow, and there 

 cannot be a doubt that this is its usual condition, and that we 

 shall have a hard fight with the wind in our teeth ; it will be 

 no child's play battling with this icy blast from the summit. 



N 2 



