On the succeeding day they suddenly came on what at first appeared to be an impassable barrier.

The ridge which they had so pertinaciously followed, had, for the last mile narrowed and dwindled down into a sharp razor-backed spur, flanked with rugged and abrupt gullies on either slope.

Across this narrow way now stretched a perpendicularly-sided mass of rock, which seemed effectually to bar their path.

The removal of a few large boulders however, revealed an aperture which, after some labour, they widened sufficiently to allow the pack-horses to squeeze through.
Once through they began to ascend what they estimated to be the second tier of the Mountains.

Shortly after they left camp that morning they came on a pile of stones, or cairn, evidently the work of some European, which they attributed to Bass.