MAKING THE START 



projected on the disc of the moon, we could see the 

 great cloud travelling upwards, not quietly, but impelled 

 by force from below. There were times also when it 

 was obvious that the molten lava in the crater could 

 not have been very far from the lip of the cup, for 

 we could see the deep-red glow reflected strongly on 

 the steam cloud. We often speculated as to the 

 course the lava stream would take and its probable 

 effect on the great glaciers and snow-fields flanking 

 the sides of the mountain, should it ever overflow. 

 These sudden uprushes were obviously the result of a 

 vast steam explosion in the interior of the volcano and 

 were sufficient proofs that Erebus still possesses consid- 

 erable activity. 



On March 5, after the busy day and night of prepa- 

 ration, the start was made. Breakfast was served 

 at 6 a.m., and one of the eleven-foot sledges was packed 

 and lashed, the total weight of the load and sledge 

 being 560 lb. I took a photograph of the party as 

 they started off. They got under way from the hut 

 at a quarter to nine, all hands accompanying them 

 across the rocky ridge at the back of the hut, lifting 

 the sledge and load bodily over this, and then helping 

 the party to pull along the slopes of Back Door Bay 

 across Blue Lake up the eastern slope to the first level. 

 There we said farewell to the mountain party. They 

 first steered straight up a snow slope and skirted 

 closely some rocky ridges and moraines in order to 

 avoid crevassed glaciers. About a mile out and four 

 hundred feet above sea-level a glacial moraine barred 

 their path, and they had to portage the sledge over 

 it by slipping ice-axes under the load between the 

 runners and bearers of the sledge and lifting it over 

 the obstruction. On the further side of the moraine 

 was a sloping surface of ice and neve on which the 



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