THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
march so far to the west, but if we keep 
rising we must come to the end of the 
obstacles some time.” 
Later, as they climbed yet another slope to 
the west : “ On top of this we got on the most 
extraordinary surface — narrow crevasses ran 
in all directions. They were quite invisible, 
being covered with a thin crust of hardened 
neve without a sign of a crack in it. We all 
fell in, one after another, and sometimes two 
together. We have had many unexpected 
falls before, but usually through being unable 
to mark the run of the surface appearances of 
cracks or where such cracks are covered with 
soft snow. How a hardened crust can form 
over a crack is a real puzzle — it seems to 
argue extremely slow movement. 
“ But suddenly at 5 p.m. everything 
changed. The hard surface gave place to 
regular sasirugi and our horizon levelled in 
