250 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [August 



by the actors. It is for me now to give but an outline of the 

 journey and to note more particularly the effects of the strain 

 which they have imposed on themselves and the lessons which 

 their experiences teach for our future guidance. 



Wilson is very thin, but this morning very much his keen, 

 wiry self — Bowers is quite himself to-day. Cherry-Garrard is 

 slightly puffy in the face and still looks worn. It is evident that 

 he has suffered most severely — but Wilson tells me that his 

 spirit never wavered for a moment. Bowers has come through 

 best, all things considered, and I believe he is the hardest 

 traveller that ever undertook a Polar journey, as well as one 

 of the most undaunted; more by hint than direct statement I 

 gather his value to the party, his untiring energy and the astonish- 

 ing physique which enables him to continue to work under con- 

 ditions which are absolutely paralysing to others. Never was 

 such a sturdy, active, undefeatable little man. 



So far as one can gather, the story of this journey in brief 

 is much as follows: The party reached the Barrier two days 

 after leaving C. Evans, still pulling their full load of 250 lbs. 

 per man; the snow surface then changed completely and grew 

 worse and worse as they advanced. For one day they struggled 

 on as before, covering 4 miles, but from this onward they were 

 forced to relay, and found the half load heavier than the whole 

 one had been on the sea Ice. Meanwhile the temperature had 

 been falling, and now for more than a week the thermometer 

 fell below —60°. On one night the minimum showed —71°, 

 and on the next —77°, 109° of frost. Although in this truly 

 fearful cold the air was comparatively still, every now and again 

 little puffs of wind came eddying across the snow plain with 

 blighting effect. No civilised being has ever encountered such 

 conditions before with only a tent of thin canvas to rely on for 

 shelter. We have been looking up the records to-day and find 

 that Amundsen on a journey to the N. magnetic pole in March 

 encountered temperatures similar in degree and recorded a mini- 

 mum of 79°; but he was with Esquimaux who built him an 

 igloo shelter nightly; he had a good measure of daylight; the 

 temperatures given are probably ' unscreened ' from radiation, 

 and finally, he turned homeward and regained his ship after 

 five days' absence. Our party went outward and remained absent 

 for five weeks. 



