A MIRAGE 



the trend of these by a compass they helped us to 

 keep direction when the air was thick with f aUing snow. 



The following day, October 15, was beautifully 

 fine and calm; the sky was slightly cloudy with long 

 belts of cirrus-stratus and alto-stratus. Erebus, now 

 over fifty miles distant, was cloud capped. We had a 

 glorious view up the magnificent valley of the Ferrar 

 Glacier; the spur less hills on either side of the valley, 

 strongly faceted in a direction parallel to each side 

 of the valley, spoke eloquently of intense abrasive 

 glacial action in the immediate geological past. The 

 hills in the foreground, formed of gneissic granite, 

 were of a rich chocolate brown to warm sepia hue, fading 

 in the distance to exquisite tints of reddish purple and 

 violet. Towards evening we had a wonderful vision 

 of several large icebergs close ahead of us; it seemed 

 as though they were only a mile or so distant, as one 

 could see clearly the re-entering angles and bright 

 reflected sides of the bergs lit up in the rays of the 

 setting sun. Suddenly, as if by magic, they all vanished. 

 They had been momentarily conjured up to our view by 

 a wonderful mirage. In the departing rays of the setting 

 sun Mount Erebus and Mount Bird glowed Avith a 

 glorious golden light. This was one of the most beautiful 

 days we experienced during the whole of our journey. 

 The cold was now less severe than it had been, the 

 temperature being 9.5° Fahr. at 8 p.m. 



