FIRST WESTERN EXPEDITION 173 



scarp, and satisfied ourselves that no lateral " Snow Valley " 

 existed below the scarp such as has been indicated in earlier 

 maps. 



It was very cold on this hill (which we called Terminus 

 Mountain) ; and after swinging the theodolite and taking several 

 photographs we hurried back to the tent down Ward Valley. 



On March 2 we started our homeward trek ; nothing 

 could be worse than our outward track up the middle of 

 the glacier — though we were able to study the changes of 

 the glacier ice and so did not regret it. I therefore decided 

 to hug the coast on our return, though near the depot the 

 ice was so full of silt from the moraines that we had not 

 seen any feasible route along the coast thereabouts. 



For the next few days we followed the course of the 

 sub-glacial Alph River. Some four miles down-stream from 

 Terminus Camp a rampart of ice pinnacles commenced, which 

 recalled the monoliths of Stonehenge. These walled off the 

 rough sea of the Koettlitz Glacier from the frozen surface of 

 the " river." This broad lane was here a quarter of a mile 

 wide and consisted of a level surface broken up by deep 

 sunken " paths." The more elevated areas were preferable 

 for sledging, for the paths occasionally let us through into 

 water. The whole structure was due to the drainage of water 

 away from rivers and lakelets whose surface had frozen. 



This splendid track — which we called " Alph Avenue " — 

 enabled us to proceed with unexpected ease, and each day we 

 halted and explored one of the numerous tributary valleys 

 which characterized the hinterland. 



Each valley was of the same type. A great bar of debris, 

 some three hundred feet high, blocked the mouth of the 

 tributary. Within this was a bare rounded valley extending 

 to the foot of Lister. Some five miles from the coast was 

 the snout of a tributary glacier which had originally deposited 

 the moraine, but now was shrunk back to a mere shadow of 

 its former self. 



All along our route were groups of seals, and numerous 

 skua gulls enlivened the surroundings. Coming back from 

 one of our detours I was much amused to see Wright crawling 

 about among the seals in his investigation of the ice — while 

 thirty skuas were anxiously awaiting the demise of this 

 obviously crazy seal ! 



