388 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



mantle. I dared not move far from the tent, and so we broke 

 up shales and collected more of what Evans called " sarpent 

 critters." I found a few brilliant blue plates with a lustre 

 like that on the elytra? of beetles ! I walked over the north 

 end of the ridge where the solid granite was broken into 

 large "bricks" separated by several inches. These blocks 

 seemed to have moved to the east, and this movement may be 

 due to glacier " plucking " ; but I think it is merely the 

 result of frost cleavage followed later by rock " creep." At 

 any rate it was very common on the " floors " left by the 

 recession of the ice-sheet. 



Debenham in his prowl for specimens had discovered a 

 coal-mine ! In this case it was not a large one, and consisted 

 of a fine lump of brown coal about four inches across. 



On the 3rd Gran and I determined to circumnavigate 

 Mount Suess. This most striking mountain lay about one 

 mile south of us. It towered 3000 feet above Gondola ridge 

 and was a most impressive sight. The upper layer consisted 

 of black dolerite, largely showing columnar structure. The 

 main mass was formed of reddish granite. It stood out four- 

 square like some gigantic castle keep (see Fig., p. 383). 

 The centre was hollowed out and three cusps or peaks rose at 

 the north, west, and south angles respectively. In fact, it 

 resembled more than anything an ancient molar tooth, 

 though this parallel libels its rugged grandeur. 



As we marched round its east face we came on more and 

 more dolerite in the moraine. This had evidently been 

 swept round the south of the mount, and as this moraine 

 contained the sandstone fossils it was very important to see 

 where the moraine originated. Between the mount and the 

 glacier to the south was a low col of granite from which 

 talus debris reached upwards almost to the dolerite cap. The 

 mount itself looked yellow, but I found this was due to a 

 yellow tint in the granite. 



The sky was clouding, and we had still a long way to go. 

 So we hurried round to the west side of the mount, and here 

 I saw what I had expected, that between the granite base and 

 the dolerite capping there was a long " lenticle " of yellow 

 sediments. It was, however, quite inaccessible from below, 

 and after making a sketch we marched on the north. On this 

 side there was very little talus. We clambered along over 



