700 . REPORT — 1901. 



Clements Markliam lias organised the expedition can hesitate to accord to him in 

 fullest measure the credit for its successful inauguration. And no one who has seen 

 the quiet and good-humoured determination of the commander, Commander E. F. 

 Scott, in overcoming many irritating preliminary difficulties, can doubt his fitness 

 to undertake the heavy responsibilities of the voyage. I am sure that he will be 

 a worthy successor to Cook, Ross, Franklin, Nares, and all the other officers 

 who have made their names and the name of the British Navy famous in Polar 

 service. The second in command, Lieutenant Armitage, R.N.R., has had several 

 years of Arctic experience, and amongst the crew there are some old whalers whose 

 knowledge of the ways of sea-ice should prove of value. The ship and her equip- 

 ment are unique ; it is no exaggeration to say that she is the best-found and most 

 comfortable vessel which has ever left our shores on a voyage of discovery. 



The German expedition has been more boldly planned than ours. It ia new 

 and experimental all through, as befits a young nation in its first exuberant eflbrts 

 in a new field. If some people suppose that it maj' have made mistakes that 

 our expedition has avoided ; these, at least, are new mistakes from which new 

 lessons are to be learned. If risks must be run — and we of the twentieth centuiy 

 are, I trust, no more timid of incurring risks than our predecessors of the nine- 

 teenth, or the eighteenth, or even the seventeenth — it is good that they should be 

 new risks. To scientific men in Germany it appears natural and reasonable that 

 a man of science should be the head of a scientific expedition ; and that a geogra- 

 pher should lead a geographical expedition. IMany British men of science sympa- 

 thise in this view. Dr. Erich von Drygalski, one of the professors of Geography 

 in the University of Berlin, has been entrusted with the command to which he 

 was appointed before the ship was designed, and for five years he has given all his 

 time and thought to the expedition. He is supported by a band of highly trained 

 specialists, who have spared neither time nor travel in mastering the subjects with 

 which they may deal, and each has also received a general training in the subjects 

 of all his colleagues — an admirable precaution. The captain of the 'Gauss,' who 

 belongs to the Merchant Service, has taken a course of training from the Norwe- 

 gian whalers ofi" Spitsbergen. He will, of course, be absolute master of the ship 

 and crew in all that concerns order and safety, but he will be under the direction 

 of the leader in all that concerns the plan of the voyage and the execution of 

 scientific work. Tliis arrangement is one which has always seemed to me to be 

 desirable, that the captain of a ship on scientific service should occupy a position 

 in relation to the scientific chief similar to that of the captain of a yacht in relation 

 to the owner; but it is subject to the drawback that a naval officer could not well 

 be asked to accept such a divided command. 



Whatever our views as to ideal organisation may be, we are all certain that 

 both expeditions will do the utmost that they can to justify the confidence that is 

 placed in them and to bring honour to their flags. AVe know that the officers and 

 staff' of the ' Discovery ' belong to a race which, whether trained in the University 

 or in the Navy, has acquired the habit of bringing back splendid results from any 

 quest that is undertaken. 



A Definition of Geoc/raphy, 



The bright prospects of Antarctic Exploration must not, however, blind us to 

 the fact that exploration is not geography, nor is the reading or even the writing 

 of text-books, nor is the making of maps, despite the recognition of leading carto- 

 graphers as ' Geographers to the King.' These are amongst the departments of 

 geography, but the whole is greater than its parts. 



The view of the scope and content of Geography which I liave arrived at as 

 the result of much work and some little reading during twenty years is substan- 

 tially that held by most modern geographers. But it is right to point out that the 

 mode of expressing it may not be accepted without amendment by any of the 

 recognised leaders of the science, and for mj' own part I believe that discussion 

 rather than acceptance is the best fate that can befall any attempt at stating 

 scientific truth. 



