FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 129 



On the 30th we started up some steep undulations. We 

 had anticipated easy going, for Evans, on his 1902 journeys, 

 had always encountered clear smooth ice here. But the ice 

 was buried under a foot of snow and only showed in oc- 

 casional holes. I made brief notes of the surfaces throughout 

 the day, at our various halts, and they are characteristic of 

 glacier sledging and so are here reproduced. 



" First Halt. Heavy going up the undulations ; three of 

 them traversed already ; the surface is smooth but the runners 

 stick to the snow. 



" Second Halt. We have crossed the head of quite a deep 

 snow-covered valley crossing the glacier, — on both sides were 

 numerous crevasses, but they were not wide, the largest being 

 under three feet. I slipped in twice, and Evans and Wright 

 had similar mishaps (in no case, however, did both feet go in). 

 Definite snow bridges over crevasses. We halted at a dead 

 seal, obviously a young specimen and yellowish in colour. 



" Third Halt. We can see a good lateral moraine at the 

 foot of the cliffs, for we are gradually rising up a steep slope 

 with a bad surface. Only a few narrow cracks. 



"Fourth Halt. Still on the same slope, which is hard 

 going and causes much sweat, chiefly owing to our rather 

 heavy loads, as the slope is only three degrees. 



" Fifth Stage. Same surfaces ; stopped for lunch, having 

 done 3600 paces in three-quarters of an hour [fide pedometer). 



" Sixth Stage. The surface became less damnable and we 

 did a mile in which short patches of ice appeared under one 

 inch of powdery snow. Some 'glass-roof' ice is appearing 

 into which we fall, and the snow is still one foot thick in 

 many places. 



" Seventh Stage (5 p.m.). We are reaching plough-share ice. 



" Eighth Stage. Snow is falling on the northern slopes, 

 but does not reach down to our level. 



" Ninth Stage. Much better surface, nearly all ice, though 

 the snow has powdered it to a greyish colour. 



" Tenth Stage. ( Arabesques ' are showing in the clear ice 

 underfoot, they seem to mark fairly old solid ice and indicate 

 good travelling. 



11 Eleventh Stage (8 p.m.). Crossing the glacier to Cathe- 

 dral Rocks ; surface good, but the moraine seems a long way 

 ahead. 



