EXPLORING THE GREAT CONTINENT 



ered thirteen thousand feet above the hut to the east. 

 On March 5th, 1908, six men, led by David and 

 Adams, started their ascent. They dragged a sledge 

 up to 2,750 feet, where they camped. On March 6th 

 they reached 5,630 feet before camping in the oldest 

 crater of Erebus. They left the sledge here, and, carry- 

 ing bags and the tent, but no poles, reached 8,750 feet 

 on the evening of March 7th. The temperature here 

 was 20° below zero Fahrenheit. Here a blizzard beset 

 them, and without tent poles they were in a precarious 

 position. Brocklehurst was nearly frozen to death and 

 Mackay fainted from mountain sickness near the sum- 

 mit. Here they found another ancient crater with a 

 wall one hundred feet high and containing many snow- 

 cowled fumaroles emitting steam. At their camp at 

 11,400 feet it was found that Brocklehurst was se- 

 verely frostbitten, and he lost a toe as a consequence. 

 The other five men reached the summit at 10 a.m. on 

 March loth (see Figure 11). 



''We stood on the verge of a vast abyss, and at first 

 could see neither to the bottom nor across it on account 

 of the huge mass of steam filling the crater and soaring 

 aloft in a column one thousand feet high. After a con- 

 tinuous hissing sound there would come from below 

 a big dull boom, and great masses of steam would rush 

 upwards. . . ." IMawson's angular measurement made 

 the depth of the crater nine hundred feet. Beds of 

 lava or pumice alternated with white zones of snow in 

 the crater wall. They returned to the hut in two days. 



One of the most adventurous journeys in polar his- 

 tory was that which commenced on October 29th, 



47 



