558 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



Bird, which is almost entirely covered with ice on which 

 it was to be expected that some mark might be left. At 

 9000 feet Terror looked very imposing, but Mount Bird 

 and Terra Nova were insignificant and uninteresting. The 

 valley between the old crater and the slopes of the second 

 crater greatly impressed them, and they found a fine little 

 crevassed glacier in it. Both Priestley and Debenham are 

 of opinion that it is possible to get to Terror by this valley, 

 and that there are no crevassed areas or impossible slopes on 

 the way. All the same it would probably be more sensible 

 to go from Cape Crozier. 



At a point about 9000 feet up, Priestley, Gran, Abbott 

 and Hooper started to make the ascent to the active crater 

 on December 10. They packed the tent, poles, bags, inner 

 cooker and cooking gear, with four days' provisions, and 

 reached the second crater at about 1 1,500 feet, to be hung 

 up by cloud all the next day. At these altitudes the tem- 

 perature varied between - io° and - 30 , though at sea- 

 level simultaneously they were round about freezing-point. 

 By 1 a.m. on the 12th the conditions were good — clear, 

 with a southerly wind blowing the steam away from the 

 summit. The party got away as soon as possible and reached 

 the lip of the active crater in a few hours. Looking down 

 they were unable to see the bottom, for it was full of steam : 

 the sides sloped at a steep angle for some 500 feet, when 

 they became sheer precipices : the opening appeared to be 

 about 14,000 paces round. The top is mostly pumice, but 

 there is also a lot of kenyte, much the same as at sea-level : 

 the old crater was mostly kenyte, proving that this is the 

 oldest rock of the island : felspar crystals must be continu- 

 ally thrown out, for they were lying about on the top of the 

 snow; I have one nearly 3^ inches long. 



Two men went back to the camp, for one had a frost- 

 bitten foot. This left Priestley and Gran, who tried to boil 

 the hypsometer but failed owing to the wind, which was 

 variable and enveloped them from time to time in steam and 

 sulphur vapour. They left a record on a cairn and started 

 to return. But when they had got 500 feet down Priestley 

 found that he had left a tin of exposed films on the top 



