BACK TO LAND AGAIN 321 



The bones of Ross G. Marvin lie farther north 

 than those of any other human being. On the northern 

 shore of Grant Land we erected a cairn of stones, and 

 upon its summit we placed a rude tablet inscribed: 

 "In Memory of Ross G. Marvin of Cornell University, 

 Aged 34. Drowned April 10, 1909, forty-five miles 

 north of C. Columbia, returning from 86° 38' N. Lat." 

 This cenotaph looks from that bleak shore northward 

 toward the spot where Marvin met his death. His 

 name heads that glorious roll-call of arctic heroes 

 among whom are Willoughby, Franklin, Sontag, Hall, 

 Lock wood, and others who died in the field, and it 

 must be some consolation to those who grieve for him 

 that his name is inseparably connected with the win- 

 ning of that last great trophy for which, through 

 nearly four centuries, men of every civilized nation 

 have suffered and struggled and died. 



The Eskimos of whom Marvin was in command 

 at the time he lost his life fortunately overlooked, in 

 throwing Marvin's things upon the ice, a little canvas 

 packet on the upstanders of the sledge containing a 

 few of his notes, among them what is probably the 

 last thing he ever wrote. It is so typical of the 

 man's intelligent devotion to his duty that it is here 

 appended as he wrote it. It will be seen that it was 

 written on the very day that I last saw him alive, 

 that day upon which he turned back to the south 

 from his farthest north. 



"March 25, 1909. This is to certify that I 

 turned back from this point with the third supporting 

 party, Commander Peary advancing with nine men 



