A STEADY ADVANCE 



clouds were distinctly curved convexly towards the 

 south-east. 



The following day, December 28, we travelled on 

 north-westwards in thick cloudy weather, at first quite 

 calm. At about 10 a.m. a breeze set in from the sea, 

 spreading westwards over the top of Mount Nansen over 

 8000 ft. above sea-level. Above Nansen it met the 

 upper current wind and was obviously deflected by it 

 in a south-easterly direction. Meanwhile, in the direc- 

 tion of the coast the sky was very dark and lowering, and 

 probably snow was falling there. Remarkable pillars 

 of cloud formed over the Mount Larsen group. These 

 were photographed by Mawson. We passed over occa- 

 sional patches of nearly bare glacier ice, alternating with 

 stretches of hard neve. When we camped that evening 

 we had sledged a little over ten miles, and a keen, 

 cold wind was blowing gently off the high plateau to 

 our west. 



The following day, December 29, was clear^ calm 

 and cold. At noon a pretty strong wind was blowing 

 off the plateau. The surface of the snow was fairly 

 strongly ridged with sastrugi. One set was made by 

 winds coming from between west-south- west and west 

 by north, the other by winds nearly north-westerly, or 

 between west-30° -north and west-40° -north. As this 

 latter bearing was not far off the direction in which we 

 were travelling, we were able from time to time to follow 

 these minor sastrugi, which were thus of considerable help 

 to us in bringing over the sastrugi more oblique to the 

 direction in which we were travelling. 



The following day, December 30, Mounts Larsen 

 and Bellingshausen were disappearing below the horizon, 

 and several mountains were showing up clearly and 

 sharply to the north of us, the principal peaks of which 

 were at first identified by us as Mount New Zealand 



169 



