THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 349 



We could see nothing remotely approaching this description, 

 nor indeed anything very like a photograph of it, which 

 appeared in the Discovery volume. 



We were so interested in this unexplored region that we 

 pulled the front sledge along till the second sledge seemed a 

 mere speck to the eastward. In fact, we failed to notice that 

 the weather was growing very thick to southward, while a 

 threatening tablecloth was covering Erebus. We hurried 

 back. The stage was nearly three times the normal distance. 

 I know it seemed such an interminable distance that I 

 wondered if the sea ice were carrying the sledge away ! 



We got back to our first sledge just in time and pulled 

 in to a little crag of granite which projected below the 

 frowning cliffs of ice. This we called First View Point, for 

 from it we could see a bold promontory which was possibly 

 our rendezvous. Indeed, the error in the map had made 

 me doubtful if we were in Granite Harbour at all ! 



View Point was not an ideal camp site. There was no 

 snow, and really no room for the tent. But we managed to 

 get it spread loosely in a little alcove, and though it flapped 

 wildly all night, yet we were very thankful to be on terra 

 firma in the blizzard, even if it were only a yard or two 

 wide. 



Outside the drift blew in great sheets off the glacier sixty 

 feet above us. The temperature was twenty below freezing, 

 but we were very snug in the tent, and I slept for nine solid 

 hours. 



We left View Point next day, as the blizzard was only 

 a brief one, and pushed west. Soon we had to cross a giant 

 shear crack some forty feet wide. Luckily the main 

 channel was frozen in places, and we got across without 

 difficulty, and then reached a small glacier tongue which 

 drained the Piedmont. Very heavy clouds again obscured 

 the south, and I felt it wise to take advantage of this 

 good camping site and sit out the impending blizzard. So 

 we pitched the tent off the end of the tongue near a splendid 

 snowdrift which afforded us perfect blocks for securing the 

 tent. Soon beautiful flakes of snow were falling. Some 

 were delicate crystal bundles like a pine branch, others were 

 like little cog-wheels with six teeth. It continued to snow 

 most of the day, and as night-marching was not advisable 



