THE WESTERN JOURNEYS* 

 BY T. GRIFFITH TAYLOR, B.A., B.Sc., B.E., F.G.S. 



CHAPTER I 

 KOETTLITZ, FERRAR, AND TAYLOR GLACIERS 



THE following chapters describe the doings of six members of 

 the Expedition during a detailed exploration of the ' Western 

 Mountains ' in South Victoria Land. A few words as to the 

 scene of our operations and the personnel of the parties will 

 serve as an introduction to the narrative of the sledge journeys. 



As you stand on Cape Evans with your back to the steam 

 cloud of Erebus you see across MacMurdo Sound a glorious 

 range of mountains running due north and south and rising to 

 13,000 feet in the south-west. These are the Western Moun- 

 tains. Their southern limit is the extinct volcanic cone of 

 Discovery, and far to the north one can follow the same range 

 of snow-clad peaks until it merges with the grey line of the 

 horizon. Beyond this grey line was Granite Harbour (76 50'), 

 and that marked the northern limit of our survey; while the 

 Koettlitz Glacier (in 78 20'), which hid the lower slopes of 

 Discovery, was the ' farthest south ' reached in our two sledging 

 trips. 



On clear days we could see every little cup-shaped valley 

 which roughened the mighty scarp of Lister, so sharply that it 

 seemed impossible that they were seventy miles away. Due west 

 was the valley of the Lower Ferrar Glacier, while the long gleam- 

 ing snow slope at its mouth was the Butter Point Piedmont the 

 starting place for all Western exploration, where depots have 

 been made even since the butter was left there by the 1902 

 expedition. 



Hidden behind the ranges was the Great Ice Plateau. From 

 this height of 7000 feet descended the great rivers of ice the 



* See Folding Map, p. 290: and The Birdseye Views, pp. 420, 422, 425. 



