Already such signs of day are inspiriting. In the
afternoon the wind arose with drift and again the prophets predicted
a blizzard. After an hour or two the wind fell and we had a calm,
clear evening and night. The blizzards proper seem to be always
preceded by an overcast sky in accordance with Simpson's theory.
Taylor gave a most interesting lecture on the physiographic features
of the region traversed by his party in the autumn. His mind is very
luminous and clear and he treated the subject with a breadth of view
which was delightful. The illustrative slides were made from Debenham's
photographs, and many of them were quite beautiful. Ponting tells me
that Debenham knows quite a lot about photography and goes to work
in quite the right way.
The lecture being a precis of Taylor's report there is no need to
recapitulate its matter. With the pictures it was startling to realise
the very different extent to which tributary glaciers have carved the
channels in which they lie. The Canadian Glacier lies dead, but at
'grade' it has cut a very deep channel. The 'double curtain' hangs
at an angle of 25 deg., with practically no channel. Mention was made of
the difference of water found in Lake Bonney by me in December 1903
and the Western Party in February 1911. It seems certain that water
must go on accumulating in the lake during the two or three summer
months, and it is hard to imagine that all can be lost again by the
winter's evaporation.
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