i 9 i il GLASS-ROOF ICE 129 



ing glacier which lay like a great white mantle flung on the 

 northern wall of the Ferrar Valley. To reach this side glacier 

 we had to cross a much weathered portion of the Ferrar's sur- 

 face. Large dome-covered ponds into which we fell at frequent 

 intervals made one of us remark, ' Just like a promenade on the 

 roof of the Crystal Palace.' 



As usual the rock slopes were fringed by a colonnade of 

 gigantic pinnacles thirty feet high separated by narrow crevasses. 

 The sun glistening on the icy minarets ancl beautiful icicles made 

 a most impressive sight. Beyond this we soon reached the talus 

 or debris slopes below the ' Double Curtain ' glacier. A stiff 

 climb up this brought us to the snout of the tributary, and we 

 found that this ' mantle of ice ' ended in a vertical face forty feet 

 thick. While Wright and Debenham investigated this region, 

 I climbed up 2500 feet and stood on the shoulder of the Kukri 

 Hills. 



A wonderful panorama was spread out before me which 

 was especially striking to the south-west. Here jutted out the 

 three grand gables like the roof of a Gothic cathedral which 

 were so appropriately named the Cathedral Rocks. Below this 

 we were to leave our first depot. 



As we returned to the tent some two miles off we came across 

 several parties of Emperor penguins stolidly awaiting the end 

 of their moulting season. They probably totalled one hundred. 

 Only one individual was garbed in new and shining raiment, and 

 him I slew in preparation for a change of diet if our appetite 

 failed on a pemmican regime. 



All next day we pulled steadily up the glacier to the west, 

 encouraged by Evans's opinion that we should meet better sledg- 

 ing surfaces higher up the glacier. 



On the 3Oth we had very heavy going up the broad ice undu- 

 lations and about noon got among the crevasses. We all slipped 

 in at various intervals, but they were quite narrow and gave 

 us no trouble. The snow was a foot thick in many places and 

 alternated with ' glass-roof ' ice into which we fell frequently. 

 However we kept on till 9 P.M., when we reached the big 

 moraine below Cathedral Rocks, and there made our depot as 

 Captain Scott had advised. 



Above our depot the slope was steeper, but we had only half 

 the load to pull, and towards 6 P.M. on the next evening we 



VOL. II $ 



