beginning to the day, and we gave them a well-deserved rest when we
got up. We then drove in through the narrow pass and out on the other
side. It was a magnificent panorama that opened before us. From the
pass we had come out on to a very small flat terrace, which a few
yards farther on began to drop steeply to a long valley. Round about
us lay summit after summit on every side. We had now come behind the
scenes, and could get our bearings better. We now saw the southern
side of the immense Mount Nansen; Don Pedro Christophersen we could
see in his full length. Between these two mountains we could follow
the course of a glacier that rose in terraces along their sides. It
looked fearfully broken and disturbed, but we could follow a little
connected line among the many crevasses; we saw that we could go a
long way, but we also saw that the glacier forbade us to use it in
its full extent. Between the first and second terraces the ice was
evidently impassable. But we could see that there was an unbroken
ledge up on the side of the mountain; Don Pedro would help us out. On
the north along the Nansen Mountain there was nothing but chaos,
perfectly impossible to get through. We put up a big beacon where we
were standing, and took bearings from it all round the compass.

I went back to the pass to look out over the Barrier for the
last time. The new mountain chain lay there sharp and clear; we
could see how it turned from the east up to east-north-east, and
finally disappeared in the north-east -- as we judged, about 84deg.
S. From the look of the sky, it appeared that the chain was continued
farther. According to the aneroid, the height of the terrace on which
we stood was 4,000 feet above the sea. From here there was only one
way down, and we began to go. In making these descents with loaded
sledges, one has to use the greatest care, lest the speed increase
to such a degree that one loses command over the sledge. If this