ioo THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [1902- 



and another was hauled up. Three hauls made one fleet of 

 the four sledges.' After proceeding for two days in this 

 fashion and reaching a height of 6,000 feet, they suddenly 

 found further progress barred by an outcrop of rock j ' beyond 

 this was an undulating plain in which we could see large ugly- 

 looking crevasses and holes. To my intense disappointment 

 there was no route by which I could justifiably lead my party.' 

 They had little difficulty in descending the steep hillside 

 towards their former camps, but, delayed by blizzards, it was 

 not until the 16th that they could make a fresh examination 

 of the pass to the Ferrar Glacier, which they were now obliged 

 to consider the only possible route to the west. 



At this time the party were by no means in a pleasant 

 position. The plateau on which they stood was 1,800 feet 

 above the glacier which they wished to reach ; it was evident 

 that the pass which lay between, and which they now called 

 ' Descent Pass,' was filled with snow, but how steep the slope 

 might be, or how broken and crevassed its surface, they could 

 not guess. They attempted to make a reconnaissance without 

 the sledges, but after descending a few hundred feet found the 

 valley so filled with cloud that they could see little except that 

 the slope appeared to get steeper as they proceeded. In this 

 quandary they determined to take their fortunes in their hands, 

 and, starting blindly with the sledges above, to trust to fortune 

 to land them safely in the valley below. 



Armitage says : ' I had the sledges lashed two and two, 

 abreast of one another, rope breaks on each runner, and I told 

 the teams to use the bridles as extra breaks on the steeper 

 parts. Four men were told off to each sledge ; Skelton, Allan, 

 Macfarlane, and I led the way. We started slowly, but the 

 pace gradually increased until we were beyond all power of 

 stopping ; it seemed but a moment before we were brought to 

 rest on a much more gradual slope, and I stood up to find 

 that we had descended 630 feet by aneroid. The other sledges 

 came down after us with equal speed, and all arrived safely 

 abreast of us. From this spot there was a long gentle slope, 

 and then another fall of 400 feet, which, however, was not so 



