I9I2] 
THE LAST CAIRN 
347 
the eastern sledge and the cairn a bamboo was placed, 
containing a metal cylinder, and in this the following 
record was left : 
'November 12, 1912, lat. 79 degrees, 50 mins. South, 
This cross and cairn are erected over the bodies of Captain 
Scott, C.V.O., R.N., Doctor E. A. Wilson, M.B., B.C., 
Cantab., and Lieutenant LL R. Bowers, Royal Indian 
Marine — a slight token to perpetuate their successful and 
gallant attempt to reach the Pole. This they did on 
January 17, 1912, after the Norwegian Expedition had 
already done so. Inclement weather with lack of fuel 
was the cause of their death. Also to commemorate 
their two gallant comrades, Captain L. E. G. Oates of 
the Inniskilling Dragoons, who walked to his death in 
a blizzard to save his comrades about eighteen miles 
south of this position ; also of Seaman Edgar Evans, 
who died at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. " The 
Lord gave and the Lord taketh away ; blessed be the 
name of the Lord." ' 
This was signed by all the members of the party. I 
decided then to march twenty miles south with the whole of 
the Expedition and try to find the body of Captain Oates. 
For half that day we proceeded south, as far as possible 
along the line of the previous season's march. On one 
of the old pony walls, which was simply marked by a 
ridge of the surface of the snow, we found Oates' sleeping- 
bag, which they had brought along with them after he 
had left. 
The next day we proceeded thirteen more miles south, 
hoping and searching to find his body. When we arrived 
