We had difficulties and anxieties of our own, but
as we passed that graveyard of the sea we thought of the many tragedies
written in the wave-worn fragments of lost vessels. We did not pause,
and soon we were ascending a snow-slope heading due east on the last
lap of our long trail.
The snow-surface was disappointing. Two days before we had been able
to move rapidly on hard, packed snow; now we sank over our ankles at
each step and progress was slow. After two hours' steady climbing we
were 2500 ft. above sea-level. The weather continued fine and calm,
and as the ridges drew nearer and the western coast of the island
spread out below, the bright moonlight showed us that the interior was
broken tremendously. High peaks, impassable cliffs, steep snow-slopes,
and sharply descending glaciers were prominent features in all
directions, with stretches of snow-plain over laying the ice-sheet of
the interior. The slope we were ascending mounted to a ridge and our
course lay direct to the top. The moon, which proved a good friend
during this journey, threw a long shadow at one point and told us that
the surface was broken in our path. Warned in time, we avoided a huge
hole capable of swallowing an army. The bay was now about three miles
away, and the continued roaring of a big glacier at the head of the bay
came to our ears.
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