THE ASCENT OF MOUNT EREBUS.
sledges, and dragged them up the rocky ridge which bounds the Blue Lake on the west, and then took them on to our winter quarters. Our specimens collected on Erebus all arrived safely.
The scientific results of the ascent of Erebus will, it is hoped, prove of considerable interest. Probably there is no more important spot in the world for studying the movements of the upper atmosphere. The place for scientific results is not here, but rather in the contemplated meteorological, geological, and mineralogical memoirs of this expedition.
On looking back at our trip to Erebus, one cannot but be impressed with the wonder of the sights and scenes that had unfolded themselves to us during our brief journey. The glorious sunsets, the magic of the sunrise seen from our camp above the clouds, when the great shadow of Erebus swept across McMurdo Sound, and touched the far-off Western Mountains, the weird shapes of the green and white ice mounds built around the fumaroles of the old crater, its pavement of sparkling felspar crystals interspersed with snow and pumice; the hissing and booming caldron of the modern crater; with its long lines of steam jets, and its snow-white pillar of steam, will never fade from the memory.
One cannot but be impressed with the fact that
