ICE DONGAS 



progress barred by what may be termed an ice donga, 

 apparently an old channel formed by a river of thaw 

 water. We encountered three such dongas that afternoon. 

 They were from a few feet up to fifty or a hundred 

 feet or more in width, and from ten to twenty feet deep, 

 and bounded by precipitous or overhanging sides. 



After a considerable amount of reconnoitring by 

 Mackay and Mawson, and often making considerable 

 detours with our sledge, we managed to cross them. 

 Our difficulties were increased by the innumerable 

 crevasses and steep ice ridges. Some of these crevasses 

 were open, while others were roofed over with tough 

 snow. We fell into these crevasses from time to time, 

 and on one occasion, Mackay and I fell into the same 

 crevasse simultaneously, he up to his shoulders and I 

 up to my waist. Fortunately we were able, by throwing 

 out our arms, to prevent ourselves from falling right 

 through the snow lid. While we were sledging on 

 through the night amongst this network of crevasses, 

 the sky became heavily overcast, and it commenced to 

 snow. At last we succeeded in getting within less than 

 a mile of the moraine containing the boulders of re- 

 markable sphene-diorite, specimens of which we had 

 collected at that spot on our outward journey. Here 

 we camped and turned into our sleeping-bag at 7 a.m. 

 on February 1. 



It continued snowing heavily during the day, the fall 

 being about six inches in depth. The snow on the side 

 of the tent facing the sun thawed rapidly, and the thaw 

 water dripped through and formed pools on top of 

 our sleeping-bag. Mawson's sprained leg pained him 

 a great deal. We estimated that we. were now only 

 about sixteen miles, as the skua flies, from our depot on 

 the Drygalski Glacier, but as we had only two days' 

 food left, it became imperative to push on without 



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