280 siege of the south pole 
to be really emitting dense volumes of smoke. The 
ships approached nearer and the smoke was seen to be 
shot with flames or lit up by the dull glare of molten 
lava lying within the crater, while some on board even 
declared that they saw streams of red hot lava pouring 
down the snow. The land from which this mountain 
rose was provisionally called “ High Island,” and be- 
sides the huge volcano, towering to a height of 12,400 
feet and appropriately named Mount Erebus after 
the leading ship, there was another summit but little 
lower (10,900 feet), which received the name of Mount 
Terror. 
The discovery was of a thrilling nature. A “burning 
mountain ” was the last phenomenon of Nature that 
was to be looked for amidst the eternal ice of the far 
south, though indeed the observation of Balleny on the 
islands that bear his name two years before might almost 
have prepared one for it. As the Erebus and Terror 
afloat approached the Erebus and Terror enthroned on 
High Island it was with the hope of passing that island 
and penetrating far beyond. Ross said that in imagina- 
tion they were already south of the eightieth parallel and 
they had even appointed a rendezvous in that latitude in 
case the ships should get separated. But this was only a 
dream. In the clear sunshine a line of white cliffs was 
made out running east from High Island and when ap- 
proached this was found to be a mighty wall of ice 
unlike anything that had ever been seen before by anyone 
on board. To penetrate this barrier was as impossible 
as to sail through the cliffs of Dover, all that could be 
done was to try to get round it. Curiously enough the 
opinion as to the nature of this most southerly land 
which was formed when it was first sighted was correct ; 
