EXPLORING THE GREAT CONTINENT 



feet over a pass and then descended to the foot of the 

 great Beardmore Glacier. On December 7th Wild was 

 leading the pony over a snow bridge when "he felt a sort 

 of rushing wind, the leading rope was snatched from 

 his hand and he just caught the further edge of the 

 chasm. Sock's weight snapped the swingle-tree of the 

 sledge so that it was saved. We lay down on our 

 stomachs and looked over into the gulf, but no sound 

 or sign came to us ; a black bottomless pit it seemed 

 to be." 



They struggled among bad crevasses from December 

 7th to December i6th for nearly one hundred miles 

 and had risen six thousand feet up the Beardmore 

 Glacier. On December 17th Wild found specimens of 

 coal in the cliffs of Mount Buckley to the north, but it 

 was not till December 27th that they really reached the 

 head of this enormous glacier at a height of 9,820 feet. 

 They were all somewhat affected by the altitude, and 

 found it severe work to pull 150 pounds per man. 

 On January 6th they marched thirteen miles against a 

 strong blizzard with a temperature of 57 degrees of 

 frost, and on January 9th they reached 88° 2}^ S. in 

 longitude 162° E. No explorer, either north or south, 

 has ever made so great an advance on previous records 

 as did Shackleton on this wonderful unsupported march 

 of 420 miles in unknown and dangerous country (see 

 Figure 6). 



Their return journey for a time was easier, as on 

 January 19th when they marched nearly thirty miles a 

 day, helped now by the southern blizzards. Their de- 

 scent of the Beardmore Glacier was full of dangers, 



49 



