Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/303

On the 7th we trekked back to Alcove Camp. We lunched below the 'Matterhorn,' one of the most striking peaks in the Western Mountains. It appears to be composed of a cluster of dolerite pinnacles surmounting a pyramid of granite. We took careful angles to ascertain its height, which we estimated at 9000 feet. Great was my astonishment when we plotted our results in the hut to find that our peak was a bare 5000 feet. In the absence of trees or houses or any standards for comparison it was absolutely impossible to estimate any height or distance in these icy regions, and we soon learnt to profoundly mistrust our own guesses and to openly disbelieve anyone else's!

The warmth of the last few days had ruined the Alcove as a camp site. We had much difficulty in finding another. But about 100 yards north in the next deep gully was a patch of moraine exactly like a heap of road-metal. We levelled this as well as we could, and slept none the worse for what P.O. Evans called 'a few feathers in the bed.' I draw a veil over our performance at supper, the first hot meal for nearly a week!

Before we left this region Debenham climbed 2500 feet up the south slope and mapped a great wall of basic lava which clung like a black wart on the glaciated shoulder of the valley. On the opposite side, still higher, we could see a beautiful little crater of the same dark rock, which proved conclusively that the volcanic fires had illumined the glacier since ice had filled the trough to the brim.

We made good speed up the glacier and camped again