THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



geological specimens, and proceed thence shorewards 

 and inland with one sledge only. We estimated that we 

 still had fully 220 miles to travel from this depot on 

 the Drygalski Glacier to the Magnetic Pole. It was, 

 therefore, necessary now to make preparations for a 

 journey there and back of at least 440 miles. We 

 thought that with detours the journey might possibly 

 amount to 500 miles. 



We could see, even from our distance of from 

 twenty to thirty miles from the shore-line, that we 

 had no Hght task before us in order to win a way on 

 to the high inland plateau. Before we knew that 

 the whole of the sea ice had gone out between us 

 and Mount Melbourne, we had contemplated the pos- 

 sibility of travelling further northwards along the 

 coast on sea ice, down to a spot marked on the chart as 

 Gerlache Inlet. This inlet we now saw was situated 

 amongst a wilderness of high sharp jagged mountain 

 peaks rising to heights of from 6000 to 8000 ft. above 

 sea-level, and as it could now be approached only from 

 the land, it was now practically inaccessible. Nearer 

 to us, and to the north-west of our position on the 

 Drygalski Ice Barrier, was the giant form of Mount 

 Nansen, one of the grandest and most imposing of all 

 the mountains seen by us in the Antarctic. Further to 

 the left and nearly due west of us was another fine 

 dark mountain massif, Mount Larsen. Between Mount 

 Larsen and Mount Nansen was a vast glacier with a 

 rugged surface, steep ice falls and large crevasses. 

 About midway between Mounts Larsen and Nansen was 

 a huge nunatak of black rock, rising abruptly from 

 the ice surface at a point several miles inland from the 

 shore-line. Further to the left of Mount Larsen was 

 another glacier less formidable in appearance and 

 smaller in size than the Mount Nansen Glacier. This 



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