FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 



W 



along the foot of the grandest geological section I have ever 

 seen. The cliff was 3300 feet high (as determined by Abney 

 level), and was divided into so many distinct layers that it 

 resembled a gigantic sandwich ! It was capped by a little 

 triangle of yellowish rock, which represents the most eastern 

 exposure of the Beacon Sandstone in the valley. Beneath 

 this were two wonderful " sills," or horizontal sheets of the 

 basic lava called dolerite. They could be traced in the cliffs 

 for miles and miles, and represented flows of lava wedged in 

 between the granites and sandstones. These dolerite sills 

 were strongly columnar, and near by some isolated pillars of 

 enormous size were visible on the sky-line. Above and below 

 the lower of these black sills were layers of grey granite, and 



B S 



The iwonderful£geological " sandwich " near the Dun and Hedley Glaciers. 

 (The 3000-foot cliff at the south-west end of Kukri Hills, February 10, 

 191 1.) In descending order : yellow beacon sandstone ; black dolerite ; 

 red-grey granite ; black^dolerite ;»red-grey granite ; dark brown talus. 



the lower portions of the granite were shrouded in a steep 

 slope of brownish talus which reached to the flashing white 

 surface of the great glacier. 



I hoped to reach the head of the Dry Valley glacier that 

 evening, so that we pulled on till 9 p.m., and reached the 

 beginning of the slope to the north. Here we formed our 

 Fifth Camp just abeam of a tributary glacier — which, from its 

 shape, we called the " South America " glacier. We had 

 some difficulty in fixing the tent-flaps, for the glacier was now 

 practically free from snow-drift, and there was nothing to 

 weight down the skirt of the tent. But the night was calm 

 and warm, so that I walked across to the lateral moat without 

 helmet or gloves in perfect comfort. 



