166 THE VOYAGE OF THE < DISCOVERY' [Oct. 



above it the distant solitary peak of the Knob Head Mountain 

 and a patch of crimson sky.' 



' October 17. — We have been climbing upward all day, at 

 first over a gentle incline on smooth, hard, glassy ice, where 

 the sledges came very easily but unsteadily, skidding in all 

 directions ; later the incline increased and the surface was 

 roughened with tiny wavelets like those formed by a catspaw 

 sweeping over a placid lake. We walked on without crampons, 

 getting foothold in the hollow of these wavelets. Later still 

 we came to a stiffer rise, and transverse cracks appeared across 

 our path, growing more numerous and widening out as we 

 ascended till we found ourselves crossing miniature crevasses 

 lightly bridged with snow. We had to step across these, and 

 often it meant a long step. In this manner we steered round 

 to the north of the cascade, and by lunch-time had ascended 

 almost to the higher basin of the glacier. 



' Immediately before lunch we had to get over a very stiff 

 little bit, where the cracks were sometimes three or four feet 

 across, and the ice very rough between ; it was heavy work 

 getting the sledges up, and I rather feared someone would 

 get a strain or sprain, but we all got over it in safety. In the 

 afternoon, at a height of 4,500 feet, we topped the last rise 

 that led to the glacier basin ; and then, on a surface covered 

 with the usual tiny wavelets, and from which the cracks 

 rapidly disappeared, we travelled over a stretch of seven or 

 eight miles with a gradual fall of 600 or 700 feet, and at 

 length reached a stream of enormous boulders which ran right 

 across our track. This is what Armitage called the Knob 

 Head Moraine. He was twenty-seven days out from the 

 ship before he reached it ; we have got here in six. 



1 The changes of scene throughout the day have been 

 bewildering. Not one half-hour of our march has passed 

 without some new feature bursting upon our astonished gaze. 

 Certainly those who saw this valley last year did not exaggerate 

 its grandeur — indeed, it would be impossible to do so. It is 

 wonderfully beautiful. As we came up the lower gorge this 

 morning, we passed from side to side with frowning cliffs 



