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LIKE ROBINSON CRUSOE. 



BY DAN BEARD. 



The "Voyages of the Discovery," by Capt. 

 Robert Scott, R. N., are two splendid vol- 

 umes published by Scribners and we con- 

 gratulate the author, the publisher and the 

 public on the production of these books of 

 real old-fashioned adventure and achieve- 

 ment. Captain Scott of the Royal Navy 

 should by all rights be an American ; he 

 talks like one and acts like one. There is 

 nothing stilted, formal or egotistical in his 

 account, and the story is told in a bright, 

 breezy manner with a boyish enthusiasm 

 which makes it as intensely interesting as 

 Robin Crusoe, or Swiss Family Robinson. 

 And this without in any manner detracting 

 from its great scientific and scholarly value. 



Then there is a charming exhibition of a 

 real love and appreciation when he speaks 

 of the dogs, seals and those most comical 

 and interesting birds, the penguins. 



While the trip was not devoid of great 

 suffering, and even tragedy, the explorers 

 had plenty of real fun learning to use their 

 Norwegian snow shoes, coasting down snow 

 banks, and even playing football on the sur- 

 face of that great ice flat barrier, peculiar to 

 the Antarctic Ocean, of which we have heard 

 so much, and the impression left on one's 

 mind after reading the account of the strenu- 

 ous life is that of a strong desire to per- 

 sonally visit that dreary country and see 

 the strange creatures which inhabit the 

 south polar regions. 



Not since the time when as a small boy 

 we pored over the voyages of Captain Cook 

 have we been so pleased with a book, and 

 even now, with the half century mile-post in 

 sight, Captain Scott has inspired in us a 

 burning desire to traverse the sastrugi (wind 

 waves) of snow, watch the gulls devour 

 frozen seals, frolic with the pompous pen- 

 guins and feel the thrill only to be obtained 

 by making the first foot tracks in the snows 

 of eternity! One can appreciate the joy of 

 the Discovery's biologist as he raked the mud 

 and slime, dumped from the dredge, with 

 his fingers in search of the strange marine 

 forms which possibly no human eyes ever 

 before beheld.. 



But this account, like that of the old Amer- 

 ican travelers, surprises us, and we wonder 

 how it is that only tenderfeet undertake such 

 voyages. The Discovery's men did not know 

 how to pack or use a sled, to walk on their 



skis, to build a camp fire, or even to cook 

 their food, although they afterward became 

 experts. 



In almost all the early American travelers' 

 accounts we are struck with the fact that 

 they simply blundered along through the wil- 

 derness, unaided by the simplest rudiment- 

 ary knowledge of woodcraft. They were fre- 

 quently caught by the savages and even fast- 

 ened by their necks to the post to be tor- 

 tured to death, but through some more 

 blundering escaped. 



Once when making a trip on an eighty- 

 four foot schooner, with a landlubber crew 

 of rank amateurs, we put in to Tarpaulin 

 Cove in a storm and were boarded by an old 

 salt. "Sailing yer own craft?" inquired the 

 man of the sea. "Thought so; the good 

 Lord al'ays looks after drunkards, fools and 

 amateur sailors," and we believe He does. 

 But this must not be taken to mean that Cap- 

 tain Scott is a landlubber in any sense of the 

 word; in fact, had he been, he might never 

 have reached the frozen south, but once there 

 he would probably have known how to make 

 camp, pack a sled and use snow shoes, unless, 

 indeed, he was one of those unfortunates 

 who are both tenderfoot and landlubber and 

 whose place is on a high stool in an office 

 or behind a dry goods counter. One ex- 

 perienced packer like Recreation's staff 

 artist, Belmore Browne, would have saved 

 the Discovery people much hardship, and one 

 Swiss guide like those at Glacier would 

 have prevented an awful tragedy. 



Such books as the "Voyage of the Dis- 

 covery," however, will send the red blood 

 tingling through the veins of any reader 

 who can appreciate adventure and achieve- 

 ment. 



Speaking of the blundering American ex- 

 plorers and their unpreparedness for their 

 journeys, we must make an exception of 

 Evans, who started in midwinter in 1818 and 

 walked from the Atlantic to and all over the 

 far West, he himself describes his costume 

 in the following words : 



"Mine was a close dress, consisting of buf- 

 falo skins on my shoulders, over epaulettes 

 made of the long hair of the animal, and they 

 were for the purpose of shielding the shoul- 

 ders from rain. Around my neck and under 

 one arm was strapped a double leather case, 

 with brass chargers for shot and ball ; and 

 under the other arm a case for powder, 

 strapped in the same way, and also having 



