102 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [1902- 



a small gradient meant very heavy labour with the sledges, and 

 nearly every day it was necessary to divide the loads and take 

 the sledges on singly. The difficulty of advance was greatly 

 hampered by the weather ; though temperatures were high, 

 the wind and snow-drift constantly swept down the valley with 

 great force, and on many occasions masses of cloud hung 

 about the valley and shut off all view of the surroundings. In 

 bad weather it was almost impossible to proceed in a country 

 which was so utterly unknown, and where it was necessary to 

 direct a course with a view to avoiding obstacles which were 

 sometimes seen a great distance ahead. 



On the 23rd they had reached a plateau some 4,500 feet 

 above the sea. Here the glacier, as may be seen on the chart, 

 opens out into a broad basin turning towards the right ; from 

 this point a slight descent led them to a lower level, where a 

 moraine of immense boulders ran transversely across the basin. 

 Christmas Day was spent amongst the huge rocks of this 

 moraine, but instead of the bright, cloudless weather which at 

 this time we were experiencing in the south, here the sky was 

 overcast with heavy nimbus cloud and all day long fierce 

 squalls swept down the valley ; nor had this party the sauce of 

 hunger to give that full enjoyment of their Christmas fare 

 which went so far to mark this day in our southern calendar. 

 But in spite of these facts the season seems to have been 

 celebrated with much merriment. 



From this time the party still continued to ascend : at 

 first over very rough wavy ice, where the sledges skidded 

 but could be pulled with ease, and where neither fur nor 

 leather boot could get a hold, and crampons armed with steel 

 points had to be worn ; later they came again to snow surfaces, 

 and on these they turned the corner and faced once more to 

 the west to rise over the last stretch of the widening glacier. 

 The rocky boundaries of the glacier were now comparatively 

 lower. They had no longer frowning cliffs on each side; 

 gradually the bare land seemed to be sinking beneath the level 

 of the great ice mass, and only the higher mountains showed 

 as nunataks above the vast neve" fields 



