THE EREBUS PARTY 



and extent of equipment necessary for a sledging trip, 

 so that it is not necessary now to go into details regard- 

 ing the preparations for this particular journey, the 

 only variation from the usual standard arrangement 

 being in the matter of quantity of food. In the ascent 

 of a mountain such as Erebus it was obvious that a 

 limit would soon be reached beyond which it would 

 be impossible to use a sledge. To meet these circum- 

 stances the advance-party had made an arrangement 

 of straps by which their single sleeping-bags could 

 be slung in the form of a knapsack upon their backs, 

 and inside the bags the remainder of their equipment 

 could be packed. The men of the supporting-party, 

 in case they should journey beyond ice over which they 

 could drag the sledge, had made the same preparations 

 for transferring their load to their shoulders. When they 

 started I must confess that I saw but little prospect 

 of the whole party reaching the top, yet when, from 

 the hut, on the third day out, we saw through Armi- 

 tage's powerful telescope six tiny black spots slowly 

 crawling up the immense deep snow-field to the base 

 of the rugged rocky spurs that descended to the edge 

 of the field, and when I saw next day out on the sky- 

 line the same small figures, I realised that the sup- 

 porting-party were going the whole way. On the 

 return of this expedition Adams and the Professor 

 made a full report, with the help of which I will follow 

 the progress of the party, the members of which were 

 winning their spurs not only on their first Antarctic 

 campaign, but in their first attempt at serious mountain- 

 eering. 



Mount Erebus bears a name that has loomed large in 

 the history of polar exploration both north and south. 

 Sir James Clark Ross, on January 28, 1841, named 

 the great volcano at whose base our winter quarters 



169 



