volcanic tuff, basalts, and granite. There were
occasional patches of ruddy brown and yellow which relieved the general
black and white appearance of this uninhabitable land, and close to the
shore on the north side of Cape Evans were small patches of even gritty
sand. In the neighbourhood of our Cape hard, brittle rocks cropped up
everywhere, rocks that played havoc with one's boots. Sloping up fairly
steeply from Cape Evans itself we had more and more rock masses until a
kind of rampart was reached, on which one could see a number of
extraordinary conical piles of rock, which looked much as if they had
been constructed by human hands for landmarks or surveying beacons--these
were called debris cones. This part above and behind Cape Evans was
christened The Ramp, and from it one merely had to step from boulders and
stones on to the smooth blue ice-slope that extended almost without
interruption to the summit of Erebus itself. From The Ramp one could gaze
in wonder at that magnificent volcano, White Lady of the Antarctic,
beautiful in her glistening gown of sparkling crystal with a stole of
filmy smoke-cloud wrapped about her wonderful shoulders.

We used to gaze and gaze at that constantly changing smoke or steam which
the White Lady breathes out at all seasons, and has done for thousands of
years.

Those were such happy days during the first Cape Evans summer. For the
most part we had hot weather and could wash in the thaw pools which
formed from the melting snow, and even draw our drinking water from the
cascades which bubbled over the sun-baked rock, much as they do in
summer-time in Norway.

The progress made by Davis and his crew of voluntary carpenters was
amazing. One week after our arrival at the Cape, Nelson, Meares, and I
commenced to cut a cave out of the ice cap above our camp for stowing our
fresh mutton in. When knock-off work-time came Bowers, Nelson, and I made
our way over to the ship with a hundred gallons of ice from this cave to
be used for drinking water, it all helped to save coal and nobody made a
journey to or fro empty handed if it could be helped. Once on board we
took the opportunity to bath and shave. In this country it is certainly a
case of "Where I dines I sleeps," so after supper on board we coiled down
in somebody's beds and slept till 5.30 next morning when we returned to
camp and carried on all day, making great progress with the grotto, which
was eventually lit by electric light. W