CAMP AT COLUMBIA 
brighter stars of the heavens are still visible, 
but growing fainter daily with the strengthen- 
ing of the sunlight. 
When the sun finally gets above the horizon 
and swings his daily circle, the color effects 
grow less and less, but then the sky and cloud- 
effects improve and the shadows in the moun- 
tains and clefts of the ice show forth their 
beauty, cold blues and grays; the bare patches 
of the land, rich browns ; and the whiteness of 
the snow is dazzling. At midday, the optical 
impression given by one's shadow is of about 
nine o'clock in the morning, this due to the 
altitude of the sun, always giving us long 
shadows. Above us the sky is blue and bright, 
bluer than the sky of the Mediterranean, and 
the clouds from the silky cirrus mare's-tails 
to the fantastic and heavy cumulus are always 
objects of beauty. This is the description of 
fine weather. 
Almost any spot would have been a fine one 
to get a round of views from ; at Cape Sheri- 
dan, our headquarters, we were bounded by a 
series of land marks that have become his- 
torical; to the north, Cape Hecla, the point 
of departure of the 1906 expedition; to the 
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