The unpromising aspect of the shore did not lessen as the explorersapproached it. If they had not made an easy landing, on a gravelly stripbetween two rocky points, they would have felt that their labor had beenwasted. From the sea to the ice-tipped mountains there stretched a plainof nothing but broad flat stones. They looked in vain for any signs oflife. Not a tree nor a shrub, nor even so much as a grass-blade,relieved the dead emptiness. When they caught sight of a fox, whiskingfrom one rocky den to another, it startled them into crossingthemselves.