THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 407 



" My only fear now was that bad weather might cover the 

 glacier with soft snow, for I felt that all the big crevasses 

 would be lidded, and the little ones could hardly swallow the 

 lot of us." 



Next morning we made the harness traces longer, so that 

 only one man at a time need cross even a wide crevasse. We 

 had to traverse the mouth of another large valley glacier. 

 Three of these debouched on the Piedmont Glacier from the 

 western mountains, and the pressure from the northernmost 

 (the Debenham Glacier) was responsible for the crevasses of 

 the 5th of March. The second valley glacier was not so large, 

 but we anticipated trouble. We had a stiff pull uphill for 

 three-quarters of a mile, but some of the snow was so hard 

 that the sledge-runners made no mark. This was an ideal 

 surface, for one's feet did not slip on it, though occasionally 

 the sledge skidded. We were about seven hundred feet above 

 the sea here, and entered a col just below a huge snow hill. 



" Afterwards we were cutting around the hill aforesaid, 

 when suddenly appeared many crevasses. So we deviated 

 abruptly and ascended sharply. We encountered three, into 

 one of which I fell, but they were not very wide. The moral 

 of this is — Don't go for the break of a hill facing and near 

 the sea, but stick to humdrum grades if possible ; if not, still 

 don't go for the break of a hill ! " 



The somewhat frivolous tone of the above note is evidence 

 that it was written when we had traversed the worst of the 

 Piedmont. It was always the case " down South." One 

 never got photographs or " instantaneous pen-pictures " of 

 anything really exciting. It was always a case of " Get a 

 move on, and get out of this good and quick," so that one's 

 diary lost most where it would have been most interesting. 



We were now behind Dunlop Island, and about 1250 feet 

 up the Piedmont. We were astonished to find that the floe 

 had all broken up to south'ard. Long curved cracks parallel 

 to the coast marked where pieces were continually floating off". 

 We congratulated ourselves on our safe position on the Pied- 

 mont, for we should have sledged into this without knowing 

 it had we continued much further on the sea-ice. Small bergs 

 looking just like white yachts dotted the open water, which 

 seemed to extend south to Castle Rock. There was no sign 

 of the Terra Nova. We began to think she had come to 



