LAND 81 
hauled out, but got off with a dig in the ribs from Birdie 
Bowers. 
In brilliant sunshine we coasted down Victoria Land. 
“To-night it is absolutely calm, with glorious bright sun- 
shine. Several people were sunning themselves at 11 
o'clock! Sitting on deck and reading.’’} 
At 8.30 on Monday night, January 2, we sighted 
Erebus, 115 miles away. The next morning most of us 
were on the yards furling sail. We were heading for Cape 
Crozier, the northern face of Ross Island was open to our 
fascinated gaze, and away to the east stretched the Barrier 
face until it disappeared below the horizon. Adélie pen- 
guins and Killer whales were abundant in the water through 
which we steamed. 
I have seen Fuji, the most dainty and graceful of all 
mountains; and also Kinchinjunga: only Michael Angelo 
among men could have conceived such grandeur. But give 
me Erebus for my friend. Whoever made Erebus knew 
all the charm of horizontal lines, and the lines of Erebus 
are for the most part nearer the horizontal than the vertical. 
And so he is the most restful mountain in the world, and I 
was glad when I knew that our hut would lie at his feet. 
And always there floated from his crater the lazy banner 
of his cloud of steam. 
Now we had reached the Barrier face some five miles 
east of the point at which it joins the basalt cliffs of Cape 
Crozier. We could see the great pressure waves which had 
proved such an obstacle to travellers from the Discovery 
to the Emperor penguin rookery. The Knoll was clear, 
but the summit of Mount Terror was in the clouds. As for 
the Barrier we seemed to have known it all our lives, it was 
so exactly like what we had imagined it to be, and seen in 
the pictures and photographs. 
Scott had a whaler launched, and we pulled in under 
the cliffs. There was a considerable swell. 
‘““We were to examine the possibilities of landing, but 
the swell was so heavy in its break among the floating 
blocks of ice along the actual beach and ice foot that a 
1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 80. 
G 
