i86 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Nov. 



the Depot Nunatak. Then we started for the icefall, and 

 since that we have got to the top, but how, I don't quite know, 

 nor can I imagine how we have escaped accident. On start- 

 ing we could not see half-a-dozen yards ahead of us ; within 

 a hundred yards of the camp we as nearly as possible walked 

 into an enormous chasm ; and when we started to ascend the 

 slope we crossed any number of crevasses without waiting to 

 see if the bridges would bear. I really believe that we were in 

 a state when we none of us really cared much what happened ; 

 our sole thought was to get away from that miserable spot. 



' At the top of the slope, after ascending nearly 500 feet, 

 we passed suddenly out of the wind, which we could still see 

 sweeping down the valley behind us, and here we halted for 

 lunch, after which all six of us got in one tent whilst the other 

 was hauled in for repairs, which it badly needed after its late 

 ill-usage. While we were chatting over this work, it would 

 have been difficult to recognise us as the same party which 

 had started under such grim circumstances in the morning.' 



We rose nearly 700 feet on the nth, and over another 

 steep fall of about the same height on the 12 th, but the 13th 

 found us on a more gradual incline, and at the end of the 

 day we camped with our aneroids showing an elevation of 

 8,900 feet above the sea. We had at length won our fight and 

 reached the summit. We had nearly five weeks' pro- 

 visions in hand, and I felt that things would go hard if we 

 could not cover a good many miles before we returned to the 

 glacier. 



During these few days the weather had been overcast and 

 dull, but on the 14th it cleared, and we got a good view of our 

 surroundings. We found ourselves on a great snow-plain, 

 with a level horizon all about, but above this to the east rose the 

 tops of mountains, many of which we could recognise. Directly 

 to the east and to the north-east only the extreme summits of 

 the higher hills could be seen, but to the south-east Mount 

 Lister and the higher peaks of the Royal Society Range still 

 showed well above our level. It was a fortunate view, for it 

 gave me a chance of fixing our latitude by bearings and of 



