THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



while, in some places, it overhung, and was from eighty 

 to a hundred feet in height. The hase of the cliff was 

 separated from the snow plain beyond by a deep ditch 

 like a huge dry moat, which was evidently due to the 

 action of blizzards. These winds, striking fiercely from 

 the south-east against the great inner wall of the old 

 crater, had given rise to a powerful back eddy at the 

 edge of the cliff, and it was this eddy which had scooped 

 out the deep trench in the hard snow. The trench 

 was from thirty to forty feet deep, and was bounded 

 by more or less vertical sides. Around our winter 

 quarters any isolated rock or cliff face that faced the 

 south-east blizzard-wind exhibited a similar phenom- 

 enon, though, of course, on a much smaller scale. 

 Beyond the wall and trench was an extensive snow- 

 field with the active cone and crater at its southern 

 end, the latter emitting great volumes of steam, but 

 what surprised the travellers most were the extra- 

 ordinary structures which rose here and there above 

 the surface of the snow-field. They were in the form 

 of mounds and pinnacles of the most varied and fan- 

 tastic appearance. Some resembled beehives, others 

 were like huge ventilating cowls, others like isolated 

 turrets, and others again in shape resembled various 

 animals. The men were unable at first sight to under- 

 stand the origin of these remarkable structures, and as 

 it was time for food, they left the closer investigation 

 for later in the day. 



As they walked along the rampart of the old crater 

 wall to find a camping-ground, their figures were thrown 

 up against the sky-line, and down at our winter 

 quarters they were seen by us, having been sighted by 

 Armytage with his telescope. He had followed the 

 party for the first two days with the glasses, but they 

 were lost to view when they began to work through the 



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