ft, its steep sides
being almost completely snow-clad.

The wide depression of the Mertz Glacier lay ahead, and on its far side
the dim outline of uprising icy slopes was visible, though at the time
we could not be certain as to their precise nature.

As the sledges passed Aurora Peak, Blizzard and Ginger Bitch ran
alongside. The former had hurt one of her forefeet on the previous day
during the "rough-and-tumble" descending into the valley. Ginger Bitch
was allowed to go free because she was daily expected to give birth to
pups. As she was such a good sledge-dog we could not have afforded
to leave her behind at the Hut, and later events proved that the work
seemed actually to benefit her, for she was at all times the best puller
and the strongest of the pack. However, in permitting both dogs to run
loose that afternoon, there was an element of danger which we had not
sufficiently appreciated.

Suddenly, without any warning, half of my dogs dropped out of sight,
swinging on their harness ropes in a crevasse. Next moment I realized
that the sledges were in the centre of a bridge covering a crevasse,
twenty-five feet wide, along the edge of which part of the team had
broken through.

We spent many anxious moments before they were all hauled to the
daylight and the sledge rested on solid ground. There were other
crevasses about and almost immediately afterwards Ginger Bitch and
Blizzard had broken through into a fissure and were frantically
struggling to maintain their hold on the edge. They were speedily
rescued; following which Ginger Bitch gave birth to the first of a large
litter of pups. After this second accident we decided to camp.

During the morning of November 21 there was a good deal of wind
and drift which made travelling rather miserable. Occasionally open
crevasses would break the surface of the snow.

When the light at last improved, a nunatak was observed some fifteen
miles or more to the south rising out of the glacier--Correll Nunatak.
Ahead of us was a glittering line of broken ice, stretching at right
angles to our path. Studded about on the icy plain were immense
cauldrons, like small craters in appearance. Then an area dotted over
with ice mounds approached and crevasses became correspondingly more
numerous. The dogs frequently broke through them but were easily
extricated in every instance.

Camp was pitched for lunch in the vicinity of many gaping holes leading
down into darkness, places wh