1876 VIEW FROM MOUNT JULIA. 325 



As all the depots of provisions for the use of the 

 travellers on their return journeys had been deposited, 

 I decided to go to Cape Joseph Henry, to obtain a 

 view of the northern ice from the lofty mountains in 

 that locality. Lieutenant May and Captain Feilden 

 accompanying me, we started from the ship on the 25th. 



Following the coast-line as much as possible, we 

 reached our destination on the 29th. The weather 

 being remarkably clear, the opportunity was taken to 

 ascend Mount Julia, the highest peak near the sea, 

 which rises to an elevation of not less than 2,000 feet. 

 The climb through the snow was very laborious, and 

 we were more than five hours reaching the summit 

 of the hill, its base being four miles from our tent. 



The view from the top was superb ; the atmosphere 

 was surpassingly clear, not a cloud appeared in the 

 sky from the horizon to the zenith ; in some of the 

 valleys and along parts of the shore directly below us, 

 a low mist hung, but a few miles to seaward this 

 entirely disappeared. Tier upon tier of pyramid- 

 shaped hills stretched seventy or eighty miles to the 

 westward, averaging from 2,000 to 5,000 feet high. 

 The two highest peaks of this range were named 

 Mounts Eawlinson and Bartle-Frere. To the eastward, 

 distant not less than a hundred and twenty miles, the 

 hills of Greenland about Cape Britannia were plainly 

 seen, but to the northward no land or the faintest ap- 

 pearance of land was visible. 



The interminable pack appeared from our lofty 

 station to consist of small floes hedged round by broad 

 barriers of rough ice, until in the extreme distance it 

 blended with the horizon ; not a pool of water or the 



