NEVER AGAIN 549 



staff in residence for a year at a time. Our stay of three 

 years was far too much : another year would have driven 

 the best of us mad. Of the five main journeys which fell to 

 my lot, one, the Winter Journey, should not have been 

 undertaken at all with our equipment; and two others, 

 the Dog Journey and the Search Journey, had better have 

 been done by fresh men. It is no use repeating that Eng- 

 lishmen will respond to every call and stick it to the death: 

 they will (some of them) ; but they have to pay the price 

 all the same ; and the price in my case was an overdraft on 

 my vital capital which I shall never quite pay off, and in 

 the case of five bigger, stronger, more seasoned men, death. 

 The establishment of such stations and of such a service 

 cannot be done by individual heroes and enthusiasts cadg- 

 ing for cheques from rich men and grants from private 

 scientific societies: it is a business, like the Nares Arctic 

 expedition, for public organization. 



I do not suppose that in these days of aviation the next 

 visit to the Pole will be made by men on foot dragging 

 sledges, or by men on sledges dragged by dogs, mules or 

 ponies ; nor will depots be laid in that way. The pack will 

 not, I hope, be broken through by any old coal-burning ship 

 that can be picked up in the second-hand market. Specially 

 built ships, and enough of them; specially engined trac- 

 tors and,aeroplanes; specially trained men and plenty of 

 them, will all be needed if the work is to be done in any 

 sort of humane and civilized fashion; and Cabinet min- 

 isters and voters alike must learn to value knowledge that 

 is not baited by suffering and death. My own bolt is shot ; 

 I do not suppose I shall ever go south again before I go 

 west ; but if I do it will be under proper and reasonable 

 conditions. I may not come back a hero; but I shall come 

 back none the worse; for I repeat, the Antarctic, in moder- 

 ation as to length of stay, and with such accommodation 

 as is now easily within the means of modern civilized 

 Powers, is not half as bad a place for public service as the 

 worst military stations on the equator. I hope that by the 

 time Scott comes home — for he is coming home : the 

 Barrier is moving, and not a trace of our funeral cairn was 



