e lower slopes
of the hills. On either hand were magnificent examples of ice-falls, but
ahead the way seemed open.

With the exception of a preliminary stiffness, every one felt well after
the toil of the first few days.

In bright sunlight next morning all went to examine the ice-falls to the
east, which were two miles away. Roping up, we made an ascent half-way
to the top which rose five hundred feet and commanded a grand panorama
of glacier and coast. Soon the wind freshened and drift began to fly.
When we regained the tents a gale was blowing, with heavy drift, so
there was nothing to do but make ourselves as comfortable as possible
inside.

All through Saturday night the gale raged and up till 11.30 A.M. on
Sunday March 16. On turning out, we found that the tents and sledges
were covered deeply in snow, and we dug continuously for more than two
hours before we were able to pack up and get away. Both sledges ran
easily for nearly a mile over neve, when the gradient increased to
one in ten, forcing us to relay. It was found necessary to change our
finnesko for spiked boots. Relaying regularly, we gradually mounted
six hundred feet over neve and massive sastrugi. With a steep slope
in front, a halt was made for the night. The sunset was a picture
of prismatic colours reflected over the undulating ice-sheet and the
tumbling cascades of the glacier.

On the evening of March 18 the altitude of our camp was one thousand
four hundred and ten feet, and the slope was covered with sastrugi
ridges, three to four feet in height. Travelling over these on the
following day we had frequent capsizes.

The outlook to the south was a series of irregular terraces, varying
from half a mile to two miles in breadth and twenty to two hundred feet
in height. These were furrowed by small valleys and traversed by ridges,
but there was not a sign of rock anywhere.

The temperature varied from 4 degrees to 14 degrees F. during the day,
and the minimum recorded at night was -11 degrees F.

Another nine miles of slow ascent brought us to two thousand feet,
followed by a rise of two hundred and twenty feet in seven and
three-quarter miles on March 21. Hauling over high broken sastrugi
was laborious enough to make every one glad when the day was over. The
rations were found sufficient, but the plasmon biscuits were so hard
that they had to be broken with a geological hammer.

There now swept down on us a blizzard** which lasted for a who