AURORA AUSTRALIS.
Three courses were now open to us; either to retrace our steps to the point above us, where our rocky spur had deviated from the main aréte; or to cut steps across the névé slope to this arête; or to glissade down some 500 to 600 feet to the rocky ledge below. Naturally, in our then tired state, we preferred to move in the path of least resistance offered by the glissade; accordingly we all dumped our burdens, and rearranged such as needed to be altered, so that they might all well and truly roll. We were now very thirsty, and some of us quenched our thirst, satisfactorily for the time, by gathering a little snow, squeezing it into a ball in the palm of one’s hand, and then placing it on the surface of a piece of rock. Although the shade temperature was then considerably below zero, Fahr., the black rock had absorbed so much heat from the direct rays of the sun, that the snowball, when placed on it, commenced to melt almost immediately, and the thaw water started to trickle over the Surface of the rock. The chill having been taken of the snowball in this way, the remainder could be safely transferred to one’s mouth, and yielded a refreshing drink.
Our loads having now been modelled into the shape of sausages, we launched them down the slope, and watched them intently, as, like animated things,
