i9ii] LAKE CHAD 133 



the other. Through this we carried our packs; through this in 

 the other direction the seals must have laboriously crawled to 

 die far inland. 



We could not see the sea, but found the defile occupied by a 

 frozen lake a mile long. There were dry gravelly banks around 

 this lake and here we pitched the tent. We had brought no 

 floor-cloth, but after the wet and icy floor of the 'Alcove' camp 

 where Wright had slept in a pool of water three inches deep we 

 found the warm gravel most comfortable. We had our frugal 

 meal, washed down by cold water from the lake adjacent. The 

 latter was distinctly medicinal and had no outlet, so ignoring 

 climatic differences we unanimously christened it Lake Chad. 



I was quite worried to know what had become of the broad 

 stony valley which Shackleton's men had seen from the coast in 

 1908, and wondered if we were side-tracked in some tributary 

 valley. So after dinner P.O. Evans who was always eager for 

 extra work accompanied me to the top of the ridge immediately 

 south of the tent. It was a stiff ascent of 1600 feet to a flat bare 

 expanse obviously planed by bygone glaciers. To my surprise 

 I saw that a much larger rounded valley lay immediately north 

 of this ridge, but this ' Round ' Valley, unlike the defile, did not 

 connect with the Taylor Glacier. To the east some ten miles 

 beyond a broad debris-strewn plain lay the sea, and in the far 

 distance we could see the glaciers on the slopes of Erebus and 

 the pyramid of Beaufort Island. 



Early on the 5th Evans and I started for the coast, while 

 Debenham and Wright investigated the rocks and glaciers near 

 the defile. We proceeded S.E., passing several tributary gla- 

 ciers, and had to cross many streams running across the plain 

 from the southern wall. We reached a suitable station on the 

 eastern slopes of the Kukri Hills and I took a round of angles 

 with the theodolite which linked Dry Valley to Ross Island. We 

 got back at nine o'clock and found that Debenham had collected 

 many interesting minerals from the marble outcrops of the 

 defile. 



Next morning Wright and I ascended the Riegel which so 

 nearly barred the valley. We climbed 2400 feet and then walked 

 to the top of the scarp facing up the valley to the west. So tem- 

 pestuous was the wind that we could not stand against it, much 

 less use the theodolite. At last there came a lull, and almost be- 



