FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 121 



I left my trusty "mousetrap" camera on board, some one 

 snapping a photo of us just before the start. 



About 6.30 we pulled off from the ship across the sea ice 

 which separated us from the glacier. The surface was good, 

 and we dragged the sledges about five miles before camping. 

 "We headed for the northern side of the glacier. The southern 

 side of the Ferrar was really more direct, but it was cut up into 

 gullies and pinnacles such as made sledging almost impossible. 



I asked Evans to cook during the first week ; and Deben- 

 ham was cook's mate, to follow on later. So upon halting 

 Evans took charge of the cooker and proceeded to light the 

 primus, while Wright and I erected the tent over him. Deben- 

 ham filled the outer cooker with ice and then joined us in 

 piling snow blocks on the flounce of the tent. After seeing 

 that all was secure on the sledges we dived into the tent, and 

 sitting on our rolled-up bags proceeded to change our socks. 

 All of us, except the unfortunate cook, who was too busy 

 mixing pemmican and salt and pepper and thickers — measur- 

 ing out chocolate and cocoa, etc. — to have any time to attend 

 to socks ! This was one reason why cooking was not more 

 popular ! Our wet socks were hung on a rope slung upon 

 the sledges, and by morning the frozen moisture had evapo- 

 rated (ablated) completely off. 



However, on this particular evening, while the pemmican 

 was being cooked, Wright and I walked a mile or so to the 

 south and reached a lateral " tongue " or prolongation of the 

 main glacier. There was a sudden rise of some three feet, 

 and the surface, in place of being level and comparatively 

 smooth, was carved out into deep irregular bowls with over- 

 hanging margins. These were in all probability giant " sun- 

 holes," and their floors were covered with a most beautiful 

 carpet of snow crystals. Examined closely, each crystal plate 

 was like the segment of a fan strengthened by cross-ribs. 

 These plates were often half an inch across. 



The whole structure of sunholes, crystals, and hummocking 

 ice reminded me of nothing so much as the appearance of a 

 coral reef, and I suggested the name " coral-reef surface ' 

 for the type of ice and snow weatherin' 



We returned and found the ;h " nearly ready. I 



read the sledging orders which G >cott had given me a 



few days previously. 



