THE ARCTIC AND THE ANTARCTIC 65 



glacier, and to it we consigned ourselves, literally sliding 

 down into the black depths. We were precipitated into 

 an immense wreath of snow covering the Scales for 

 over a hundred feet. The fire had been blotted out 

 with the icy deluge, but luckily, as we learned later, 

 the fire-feeders had abandoned their post long before 

 the avalanche had come down. Three hours later we 

 arrived at Sheep Camp, and entered the Mascotte 

 saloon, where the assembled miners were clustered 

 round a huge stove in the centre of the room, listening 

 to the ominous shriek of the gale outside. 



No one dared venture out that night, but in the 

 morning the four days' blizzard had spent itself, and 

 we formed a party to explore the damage done. A 

 light railway that had been laid to the Scales was 

 completely demolished, and half down to Sheep 

 Camp the channel of the Chilcoot River was filled with 

 enormous ice boulders. An avalanche had also fallen 

 on Crater Lake during the night, and when we had 

 painfully climbed the now bare summit the frozen 

 plateau beyond was rent for nearly a mile with enormous 

 gashes over ten feet in width, and the ice cleavage 

 showed down as far as the eye could reach." 



