ArRiL I, 1909] 



A^A TURE 



former winter quarters of the Dis- 

 covery on MacMurdo Sound, and 

 there established its main base. It 

 gained its first success by the ascent 

 of Mount Erebus (13,120 feet high), 

 and the discovery of its old crater 

 at the height of 11,000 feet. Dur- 

 ing the winter depots were estab- 

 lished in readiness for the summer 

 journeys, and in this work the 

 motor-car proved of great service 

 over the sea ice, though it could 

 not be used on the land ice or on 

 the Barrier. 



The southern sledging party — 

 Lieut. Shackleton, Lieut. Adams, 

 -Mr. Marshall, the surgeon, and 

 Mr. Frank Wild— left Hut Point on 

 November 3, 1908. On November 

 3 the explorers were stopped by a 

 blizzard, which delayed them for 

 four days ; thanks to their pony 

 sledges progress southward was 

 rapid, and on November 13 they 

 reached a depot previously formed 

 at latitude 79° 36'. The route 

 selected was along the meridian of 

 168° E., to the east of that followed 

 bv Capt. Scott's party. The Ice 

 Barrier proved to have an undulat- 

 ing surface, and from the brief 

 reports much of the upper part of 

 it appears to be composed of snow. 

 The previous southern record was 

 passed on November 26, and about 

 eighty miles further south the 

 Great Ice Barrier appeared to end 

 as " the ridges of snow and ice 

 turned into land." .\t this point, 

 83° 33' S. and 172° E., Lieut. 

 Shackleton began the ascent of a 

 great glacier, which was so 

 crevassed that on December 6 the 

 party only advanced 600 yards in 

 the one day. It may therefore be 

 inferred that progress to the south 

 was blocked by the mountains on 

 the eastern margin of South Vic- 

 toria Land bending round to the 

 east, and, judging from the 

 crevassed nature of the ice, the face 

 of th§ plateau is very steep. On 

 December 8 the air was clear, and 

 some new mountains were dis- 

 covered trending southward and 

 south-westward. The glacier bv 

 which the route on to the ice 

 plateau was achieved appears to 

 have been badly crevassed through- 

 out, and it took twelve days to 

 reach an altitude of 6800 feet. 

 Everything that could be spared 

 was left behind in a depot at 

 85° 10' S., and on reduced rations 

 the party struck southward toward 

 the Pole, forcing their wav against 

 southern blizzards. Eight days' 

 march over undulating, and appar- 

 ently in places very broken, ice 'ed 

 to the summit of the plateau at 

 the height of 10,500 feet. The 

 mountains had disappeared in the 

 distance by December 27, so prob- 

 ably they were a mountain range 

 striking westward from those along 



NO. 2057, "^OL. 80] 



'•"^c..e 



„o«l<. 



TOU + JAM-' vc^" 



^■'' SOUTH 





