1902] ATTEMPT TO REACH THE LAND 61 



geological structure of the whole coast, and we decided to pitch 

 our camp and make an excursion to the land on our ski. By 

 the time that we had swallowed our luncheon the clouds had 

 rolled away, leaving us in the same brilliant sunshine that we 

 have enjoyed so frequently of late, and in which even at a 

 distance of five or six miles every detail of the high groin could 

 be distinctly seen. 



'Not knowing what adventures we might encounter, we 

 thought it wise to provide ourselves with a second luncheon, 

 which we safely stowed in our breast-pockets, and taking our 

 ice-axe and Alpine rope, we set out for the shore. It looked 

 deceptively near, nor was it until we had marched for nearly an 

 hour without making any marked difference in its appearance 

 that we realised we were in for a long job. 



'By this time we were again crossing long undulations 

 which increased in height as we advanced ; soon from the 

 summits of the waves we could see signs of greater disturbances 

 ahead, and at five o'clock we found ourselves at the edge of 

 a chasm resembling that which had prevented us from reaching 

 the shore farther to the north. This was not an encouraging 

 spectacle, but on the opposite side, a mile or so away, we could 

 see that a gentle slope led to the rocks, and that once across 

 this disturbance we should have no difficulty in proceeding. 

 On the near side the spaces between the ice-blocks had been 

 much drifted up with snow, so that we found no great difficulty 

 in descending or in starting our climb amongst the ice-blocks ; 

 but as we advanced the snow became lighter and the climbing 

 steeper. We could get no hold with our finneskoes on the 

 harder places, and in the softer we sank knee-deep, whilst the 

 lightly-bridged crevasses became more difficult to avoid, and 

 once or twice we were only saved from a bad fall by the fact 

 of being roped together. Constantly after circling a large block 

 with difficulty we found in front of us some unclimbable place, 

 and were obliged to retrace our steps and try in some new 

 direction; but we now knew that we must be approaching 

 the opposite side, and so we struggled on. 



'At length, however, when we thought our troubles must 



