A CHART INACCURACY 



of horizontal and vertical angles with the theodolite to 

 all the upper peaks in these ranges. We were much 

 puzzled to determine on what part of the charted coast 

 this wide bay and great glacier valley was situated. We 

 speculated as to whether it was Granite Harbour, but 

 decided that it could not be in view of the distance 

 recorded by our sledge meter, for, according to this, we 

 must still be some twenty miles south of Granite Harbour 

 proper. We were to find out much later that the point 

 opposite which we had now arrived was in reality Granite 

 Harbour, and that its position was not shown correctly 

 on the chart. Of course in pioneering work occasional 

 mistakes such as these are inevitable. 



The following day the sledge still proved very 

 heavy on account of the soft snow — ^two to four inches 

 deep — which was continually clogging the runners of our 

 sledges. It was also difficult to steer a good course 

 amongst the hummocky pack-ice on account of the day 

 being dull and overcast. There was much low stratus 

 cloud, and a light south-easterly wind. 



The weather of October 27 was beautifully clear 

 and sunshiny, and we had a glorious view of the 

 great mountain ranges on either side of Granite Harbour. 

 The rich colouring of warm sepia brown and terra cotta 

 in these rocky hills was quite a relief to the eye. Wind 

 springing up in the south-east we made sail on both 

 sledges, and this helped us a good deal over the soft 

 snow and occasional patches of sharp-edged brash ice. 

 Occasionally the runners of our sledge would catch on 

 one of these sharp fragments, and there would be a 

 harsh rasping sound as a shaving was peeled off the 

 runner. We feared that the wind would develop into a 

 true blizzard, but it proved to be only what Joyce used 

 to call a " carpet sweeper," driving along the newly 

 fallen snow in white gossamer-like films over the sea ice. 



101 



