i 9 o2] A TRIP TO WHITE ISLAND 167 



appeared in the wardroom with his clothes dripping and his 

 teeth chattering. 



On the 22nd our small reconnoitring sledge party returned. 

 After leaving on the 19th they had made directly south towards 

 the White Island, eventually reached it, and climbed one of 

 the nearer volcanic peaks. They were so naturally bubbling 

 over with their experiences that it was some time before we 

 could get answers to our eager questions. From the summit 

 of their peak, for which the aneroid gave a height of 2,700 feet, 

 they had seen the great snow plain of the barrier still stretch- 

 ing without limit through east and south-east to south, and 

 curling a long white arm around the island on which they 

 stood. To the west the same level sea of snow seemed to run 

 deep into the fretted coastline, and again they could see it 

 beyond the high cape which limited our view from the ship. 

 In the dim distance south of our lofty western ranges more 

 high snow-covered peaks appeared. But of the roads it was 

 more difficult to speak ; they had crossed ridges and hum- 

 mocks and crevasses, and had come to see that these things 

 did not advertise themselves afar, but lay hidden in un- 

 expected places under the deceptive smoothness of the plain. 

 It looked as though the best road would lie to the east of the 

 island and well clear of it, but our travellers shook their heads 

 over the bright prospect of a smooth highway, in visions of 

 which many had indulged up to this time. 



Altogether we felt that our outlook on affairs was consider- 

 ably enlarged by this small journey, and we stopped up late as 

 we discussed its bearings and listened for the first time to the 

 woes of the inexperienced sledger. Although the temperature 

 had not been severe, our travellers had nearly got into serious 

 trouble by continuing their march in a snowstorm. They 

 found themselves so exhausted when they did stop to camp 

 that they were repeatedly frost-bitten. They could only get 

 their tent up with great difficulty, and then followed all sorts of 

 troubles with the novel cooking apparatus. It is strange now 

 to look back on these first essays at sledging, and to see how 

 terribly hampered we were by want of experience. Perhaps 



