xvi MEMOIR. 
least, were those scientific instruments he had used 
in taking observations of his journey with so much 
faithful perseverance ; the note-books ; the letters of 
friends (some of these unopened, containing those 
trifling items of home news, so sweet to the far-off 
traveller, which his eyes had never seen, for they 
had arrived after his decease) ; the pencilled outlines 
of the country's scenery ; the water-colour drawings 
of those fatal Falls ; how much did not these records 
breathe to the silent bystander, how much suggest 
of what had been, and still more what might have 
been ! Poor fellow ! not there himself to speak to 
us, those records of an earnest life, those cared-for 
and well-worn letters which he had received and 
treasured, how far more eloquent they were to us 
than any words could have been ! They told us all, 
more than all, than any words which he could, or at 
least would, have spoken — so lightly did he ever 
treat his own achievements — and seemed to leave 
the world and ourselves poorer and yet richer by 
his death ! 
But the subject has led me, in my capacity of 
editor of these pages, beyond the proper limits of 
my duties, and I must crave the indulgence of the 
reader for this long digression. My object is merely 
to relate, as briefly as I can, such simple facts of 
Frank Oates's earlier life as may serve to illustrate 
the scope and bearing of the ensuing pages, and 
