In ascending such a mountain as Erebus it was obvious, that a limit would soon be reached beyond which it would be impossible to use a sledge. To meet these circumstances straps were arranged by which single sleeping-bags could be slung in the form of a knapsack upon the climber's back, and inside the bags the remainder of the equipment could be packed. Both the advance and the supporting-party followed this arrangement. When they started I confess that I saw but little prospect of the whole party reaching the top, yet when, from the hut, on the third day out, we saw through Armytage's telescope six tiny black spots crawling up the immense deep snowfield, and when on the next day I saw the same small figures on the sky-line, I realised that the supporting-party was going the whole way. But before I give an account of this expedition as reported to me most graphically by Professor David and Adams, I must say something about the mountain on which these six men were winning their spurs not only on their first Antarctic campaign, but also in their first attempt at serious mountaineering. The name of Mount Erebus looms large in the history of polar exploration both north and south. On January 28, 1841, Sir James Clark Ross named the great volcano--at whose base our winter quarters lay--after the leading ship of his expedition. The final fate of that ship is linked with the fate of Sir John Franklin and one of the most tragic stories of Arctic exploration, but though both the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ have sunk far from the scenes of their first exploration, that brilliant period of Antarctic discovery will always be remembered by the mountains which took their names from those stout ships. Standing as a sentinel at the gate of the Great Ice Barrier, Erebus forms a magnificent picture. At the top of the mountain an immense depression marks the site of the old crater, and from the side of this rises the active cone, generally marked by steam or smoke. To ascend such a mountain would be difficult in any part of the world, but the difficulties were accentuated by the latitude of Erebus. The men, however, were determined to do their utmost to reach the crater itself, and how they fared and what they found must be told from the reports they gave to me. CHAPTER XV ATTACKING MOUNT EREBUS All hands accompanied the expedition when it started at a quarter to nine on the morning of March 5, and helped to pull the sledge along the slopes of Back Door Bay across Blue Lake, up the eastern slope to the first level; and there we said farewell to the mountain party. [Illustration: Ice Flowers on newly-formed Sea Ice early in the Winter]