THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



though our progress further north was completely 

 blocked. Eventually we found a place where the ice 

 might just bear our sledges. We strengthened this spot 

 by laying down on it slabs of sea ice and shovelfuls of 

 snow, and when the causeway was completed — not without 

 Mackay breaking through the ice in one place and very 

 nearly getting a ducking — we rushed our sledges over 

 safely, although the ice was so thin that it bent under their 

 weight. We were thankful to get them both safely to 

 the other side. 



We now found ourselves amongst some very high 

 sastrugi and hard tough snow. We had to drag the 

 sledges over a great number of these, which were nearly 

 at right angles to our course. This work proved ex- 

 tremely fatiguing. The sastrugi were from five to six 

 feet in height. As we were having dinner at the end 

 of our day's sledging we heard a loud report which we 

 considered to be due to the opening of a new crack in 

 the sea ice. We thought it was possible that this crack 

 was caused by some movement of the great active Dry- 

 galski Glacier, now only about four miles ahead of us to 

 the north. 



We got out of our sleeping-bag soon after 8 p.m. 

 on the evening of the 28th, and started just before mid- 

 night. The ice-surface over which we were sledging 

 this day had a curious appearance resembling rippling 

 stalagmites, or what may be termed ice marble. This 

 opacity appeared to be due to a surface enamel of partly 

 thawed snow. This surface kept continually cracking 

 as we passed over it with a noise like that of a whip 

 being cracked. It was evidently in a state of tension,- 

 being contracted by the cold which attained its maxi- 

 mum soon after midnight, for, although of course we 

 had for many weeks past been having the midnight 

 sun it was stiU so low in the heavens towards midnight 



132 



