GLACIERS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD 121 



Among the most important discoveries was that of the 

 South Magnetic Pole. Leaving their winter quarters on Octo- 

 ber 5th, they traveled westward amid great difficulties and 

 dangers 250 miles along the coast on the sea ice, " relaying" 

 the whole distance. As the summer advanced they began to 

 suffer from the heat, and although they were traveling over 

 ice they often had to divest themselves of their outer gar- 

 ments. On the 16th of December they left the shore and 

 struck inland in the direction of the Magnetic Pole, which 

 they estimated to be about 200 n:iles distant. During this 

 journey they encountered, though in the midst of summer, a 

 heavy snowfall and a succession of blizzards, extending 

 through a fortnight. They also, like the southern party 

 had to ascend a high plateau and found the ice covering to 

 be a perfect maze of crevasses, which rendered travel almost 

 impossible. Following the magnetic meridian, and ascend- 

 ing a succession of terraces, they at length reached an undulat- 

 ing snow plain 7,000 or 8,000 feet above sea-level, where the 

 traveling was easier, and on the 16th of January reached the 

 object of their search in latitude 72° 45' south, longitude 

 145.° Here they hoisted the Union Jack and claimed the 

 land in the name of his Majesty the King of England. The 

 cold at this elevation was intense, and there was a continual 

 ice wind from the southwest, with a succession of blizzards. 

 Hoisting a sail and thus taking advantage of this wind the 

 party reached their depot on the 3d of February in a state of 

 semi-starvation. 



