Ci^apter Ci^frteen 



PROFESSOR DAVID'S NARRATIVE (Concluded) 



P^EERUARY 3.— After sleeping in the bag from 7 

 A.M. until 11 A.M. we got up and had breakfast, 

 packed our sledge, and started along the north bank of 

 the snow canon. The snow and ice at the bottom were 

 dotted with basking seals and moulting Emperor pen- 

 guins. Fully a hundred seals could be counted in places 

 in^ a distance of as many yards along the canon. At 

 about one mile from the camp we reached a small branch 

 canon, which we had to head off by turning to our 

 right. We now proceeded about one and a half 

 miles further along the edge of the main canon, and in 

 our then tired and weak state were much dispirited to 

 find that it still trended inland for a considerable dis- 

 tance. We now halted by the sledge while Mackay 

 went ahead to try and find a crossing, and presently 

 Mawson and I were rejoiced to hear him shout that 

 he had discovered a snow bridge across the canon. 

 Presently he rejoined us, and together we pulled the 

 sledge to the head of the snow bridge. It was a 

 romantic spot. A large slice of the snow or neve cliff 

 had fallen obliquely across the canon, and its surface 

 had then been raised and partially levelled up with soft 

 drift snow. There was a crevasse at both the near 

 and far ends of the bridge, and the middle was sunk 

 a good deal below the abutments. Stepping over the 

 crevasse at the near end we launched the sledge with a 

 run down to the centre of the bridge, then struggled 

 up the steep slope facing us, Mackay steadying the sledge 



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