416 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [partii 
fusion. Sir James Ross named it Mount Erebus, and an 
extinct volcano to the eastward 10,900 ft. high, Mount 
Terror. A small round island, which had been in sight 
ajl the morning, was called Beaufort Island. 
Ross and his officers were astonished at the sight of 
a mighty ice cliff 100 feet high, with a uniform level 
summit, stretching away to the eastward from the 
peninsula or island of the volcanoes. It was a bitter 
disappointment, as they hoped to have gone much 
further south. As the ships approached the volcanoes 
two capes were recognised and named after Crozier and 
Bird, Sir James Ross taking the opportunity of ex- 
pressing his affectionate regard for his two old Arctic 
messmates, who were giving him such invaluable help. 
The bay formed by the island of volcanoes was called 
after M'Murdo, the first Lieutenant of the Terror, "a 
compliment that his zeal and skill well merited/' The 
ice cliffs were higher than the masthead, so that little 
could be seen, but some peaks were made out, rising 
above the line of cliffs, and looking more distant than 
they really were owing to the haze. These Ross named 
the Parry mountains, after his revered old commander 
with whom he had served in all but one of his Arctic 
voyages. The peaks were really the tops of islands at 
the back of the volcanoes, but the mistake was natural, 
indeed inevitable under the circumstances. 
When within three or four miles of the great ice 
barrier, Sir James Ross altered course to the eastward to 
ascertain its extent. Mount Erebus was then emitting 
smoke and flames in great volume, affording a grand 
spectacle. Good progress was made in sailing along the 
ice barrier but no rent or fissure could be seen throughout 
its whole extent. On the 29th, after sailing along the 
barrier for a hundred miles, the ships being in 77 0 47' S., it 
was still seen stretching away to the east. The soundings 
showed that the outer edge of the ice was not resting on 
the ground. Bad weather came on with much snow, 
and the barrier was only seen at intervals as they con- 
tinued their course to the east. Ross wrote of the 
barrier as a "mighty and wonderful object, far beyond 
anything we could have thought of or conceived/' The 
furthest south of the two ships was in 78 0 5' S. 
