OVER 6000 FEET UP 



our sledge drag so heavily as we crossed them. By 

 dint of great efforts we managed to finish our ten miles 

 for that day. 



The next day, January 4, we were pleased to find 

 that there was less up grade than on the previous day. 

 We were now at an altitude of over 6000 ft., and found 

 respiration in the cold, rarified air distinctly trying. 

 It was not that we suffered definitely from mountain 

 sickness, but we felt weaker than usual as the result, 

 no doubt, of the altitude combined with the cold. To- 

 wards evening, large clouds developed, much like 

 the whaleback clouds which we had often observed 

 forming over Erebus about the time of blizzards. 

 Great rolls of cumulus spread rapidly from the north- 

 west towards the south-east, and we feared that a 

 blizzard was impending. On the whole the sledging 

 was a little easier to-day than the preceding day, and 

 again we managed to do our ten miles. 



On the morning of January 5 we found the sky thickly 

 overcast, except to the south and the south-east, where 

 clear strips of blue were showing. We thought that 

 snow was coming. The weather was perfectly calm, 

 comparatively warm, but the light dull. We could 

 still see the new inland mountain and Mount New 

 Zealand distinctly. The sun was so oppressively hot 

 when it peeped out from behind the clouds that one could 

 feel it burning the skin on one's hands. 



The surface was more marked by sastrugi than ever, 

 but on the whole firm. We sledged ten miles. I 

 will quote from my diary the notes regarding some suc- 

 ceeding days. 



January 6. — To-day the weather was gloriously fine. 

 Bright, warm sunshine with a crisp, cold air in the early 

 morning and the weather almost calm. The pulling was 

 rather heavy during the afternoon; possibly the hot 



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