Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/299

picturesque alcoves. They were most beautiful specimens of Nature's architecture, the steep walls of clear ice being fretted by the sun into a thousand pilasters and niches. We lowered the sledge down 20 feet into one of these Gothic apses, and found ideal conditions for a sheltered camp. We had a strongly running stream—an inch deep—alongside; and though the wind howled along the surface of the glacier nothing was even disturbed in Alcove Camp.

We spent two days mapping the vicinity, and then started our trek to the sea. We packed up the tent, our sleeping-bags, and five days' food. Our method of march was rather amusing. Wright carried his pack in the Canadian method by a 'tump-line' round his forehead. He took the theodolite. P.O. Evans wrapped his goods and the tent round the tent poles and proudly carried them like a standard over his shoulder. Debenham copied the Australian swagsman with a bundle in front nearly balancing the main bulk behind. I found, as usual, that a strap over the right shoulder (as used by the Italian harpist) suited my convenience best. Very reluctantly we left our trusty cooker behind, but Debenham carried his camera and half the food, while I bore the remainder and a veritable goldminer's dish, to try for gold in the gravels of Dry Valley.

We marched down a narrow gap, cut through a great bar of granite, and saw ahead of us quite a large lake, some three miles long. It was of course frozen, but through the thick ice covering we could see water plants, and below the steep cliffs the water seemed very deep. We lunched at