Of the remainder of our outfit I need only mention the Alpine ropes, which had also been ready for some time.  They were about 30 yards long, and were made of very fine rope, soft as silk, specially suited for use in low temperatures.

After a hurried dinner four of us set out.  This first excursion was quite a solemn affair; so much depended on it.  The weather was of the very best, calm with brilliant sunshine, and a few light, feathery clouds in the beautiful, pale blue sky.  There was warmth in the air which could be felt, even on this immense ice-field.  Seals were lying along the ice-foot as far as the eye could reach —­ great, fat mountains of flesh; food enough to last us and the dogs for years.

The going was ideal; our ski glided easily and pleasantly through the newly fallen loose snow.  But none of us was exactly in training after the long five months’ sea voyage, so that the pace was not great.  After half an hour’s march we were already at the first important point —­ the connection between the sea-ice and the Barrier.  This connection had always haunted our brains.  What would it be like?  A high, perpendicular face of ice, up which we should have to haul our things laboriously with the help of tackles?  Or a great and dangerous fissure, which we should not be able to cross without going a long way round?  We naturally expected something of the sort.  This mighty and terrible monster would, of course, offer resistance in some form or other.

The mystic Barrier!  All accounts without exception, from the days of Ross to the present time, had spoken of this remarkable natural formation with apprehensive awe.  It was as though one could always read between the lines the same sentence:  “Hush, be quiet! the mystic Barrier !”

One, two, three, and a little jump, and the Barrier was surmounted!

We looked at each other and smiled; probably the same thought was in the minds of all of us.  The monster had begun to lose something of its mystery, the terror something of its force; the incomprehensible was becoming quite easy to understand.

Without striking a blow we had entered into our kingdom.  The Barrier was at this spot about 20 feet high, and the junction between it and the sea-ice was completely filled up with driven snow, so that the ascent took the form of a little, gentle slope.  This spot would certainly offer us no resistance.

Hitherto we had made our advance without a rope.  The sea-ice, we knew, would offer no hidden difficulties; but what would be the condition of things beyond the Barrier was another question.  And as we all thought it would be better to have the rope on before we fell into a crevasse than afterwards, our further advance was made with a rope between the first two.