THE PLATEAU AHEAD 



the one with the broken bow constantly strikes against 

 the hard, sharp ice, pulling us up with a jerk and often 

 flinging us down. At this high altitude the heavy pulling 

 is very trying, especially as we slip on the snow covering 

 the blue ice. There has evidently been an enormous gla- 

 ciation here, and now it is dwindling away. Even the 

 mountains show signs of this. To-night our hopes are 

 high that we are nearly at the end of the rise and that 

 soon we will reach our longed-for plateau. Then south- 

 ward indeed! Food is the determining factor with us. 

 We did iy 2 miles to-day. 



December 15. — started at 7.40 a.m. in clear weather. 

 It was heavy going uphill on the blue ice, but gradually 

 we rose the land ahead, and it seemed as though at last 

 we were going to have a change, and that we would see 

 something new. At lunch-time we were on a better sur- 

 face, with patches of snow, and we could see stretching 

 out in front of us what was apparently a long, wide 

 plain. It looked as though now really we were coming 

 to the level ground for which we have longed, especially 

 as the hypsometer gave us an altitude to 7230 ft., but 

 this altitude at night came down to 5830 ft., so the 

 apparent height may be due to barometric pressure and 

 change of weather, for in the afternoon a stiff breeze 

 from the south-west sprang up. The temperature was 

 plus 18° Fahr. at noon, and when the wind came up 

 it felt cold, as we were pulling in our pyjama trousers, 

 with nothing underneath. We have been going steadily 

 uphill all the afternoon, but on a vastly improved surface, 

 consisting of hard neve instead of blue ice and no cracks 

 only covered-in crevasses, which are easily seen. Ahead 

 of us really lies the plateau. We can also see ahead of 

 us detached mountains, piercing through the inland ice, 

 which is the road to the south for us. Huge mountains 

 stretch out to the east and west. After last week's toil 



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