FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 133 



resistances of the rocks involved, and how much is due to 

 the generalized type which marks the physiographic age of 

 the valley. For instance, a narrow gorge usually marks a 

 valley of late origin ; but it may be due to a hard band of 

 granite and be quite local, the rest of the valley having the 

 broader features of the mature stage of erosion. To return to 

 our local evidence. I was glad to see that the gullies inter- 

 secting the Solitary Rocks crossed the unconformity (junction) 

 between the dolerite and granite without any change in their 

 outline, proving that these two rocks offered much the same 

 resistance to weathering. 



As in the Ferrar, the frozen surface streams ran across the 

 glacier diagonally towards the north-east. Perhaps this uni- 

 form northerly direction was due to the greater melting on 

 the northern side of the glaciers by the noon sun. 



About six o'clock the slope became too steep for the 

 sledges. We halted, therefore, about a mile from the snout 

 and prospected for a good camp site. There was no snow 

 anywhere, and the edge of the glacier was a steep slope some 

 forty feet high, down which it would be little advantage to 

 lower the sledge. The centre of the glacier was cut up by 

 surface streams into asymmetric gullies twenty or thirty feet 

 deep. Along the sunny (southern) side of these gullies were 

 a series of " alcoves " arranged like the stalls of a choir. They 

 were thirty feet deep, and about a hundred across, and were 

 most beautiful objects — their steep faces being fretted into a 

 thousand pilasters and niches. 



On the northern side these alcoves were much smaller, 

 but presented the same features. We lowered the sledge 

 down a convenient gully in the wall by means of the alpine 

 ropes, and proceeded to pitch our tent on the rough ice 

 forming the level floor of the alcove. These were ideal 

 conditions for a sheltered camp — with the exception of the 

 floor. We had a strongly-running stream an inch deep along- 

 side which led to an amusing incident one evening. However, 

 it was a good site, and though the wind howled along the 

 surface of the glacier, nothing was even disturbed in our 

 sheltered nook. 



I decided to spend two days round the snout of the glacier 

 before moving down the valley towards the sea. The " groin " 

 blocking the valley attracted my attention, though I was 



