along the barrier they experienced much lower temperatures than
on the outward journey. During the return journey they landed on
the barrier, and on February 4 preparations for a balloon ascent
were made. 'The honour,' Scott says, 'of being the first aeronaut to
make an ascent in the Antarctic Regions, perhaps somewhat selfishly,
I chose for myself, and I may further confess that in so doing
I was contemplating the first ascent I had made in any region,
and as I swayed about in what appeared a very inadequate basket
and gazed down on the rapidly diminishing figures below, I felt
some doubt as to whether I had been wise in my choice.'

If, however, this ascent was not altogether enjoyed by the aeronaut,
it, at any rate, gave him considerable information about the barrier
surface towards the south; and, to his surprise, he discovered
that instead of the continuous level plain that he had expected,
it continued in a series of long undulations running approximately
east and west, or parallel to the barrier surface. Later on, however,
when the sledge-party taken out by Armitage returned, they reported
that these undulations were not gradual as had been supposed from
the balloon, but that the crest of each wave was flattened into a
long plateau, from which the descent into the succeeding valley
was comparatively sharp. On the evening of the 4th they put out
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to sea again, and on the 8th they were once more in McMurdo Sound,
with high hopes that they would soon find a sheltered nook in which
the _Discovery_ could winter safely, and from which the sledge-parties
could set forth upon the task of exploring the vast new world around
them.

Without any delay they set out to examine their immediate surroundings,