502 A rctic and A nt 'arctic Exploration [part ii 
Evans died in the tent on February 17th, a sad and 
unexpected end for such a fine and useful hand, and one 
supposed to be the strongest of the party. On February 
1 8th they had reached the Lower Glacier Depot and were 
entering upon the march over the barrier ice. They began 
to use the horse meat. 
The survivors encountered most extraordinary, indeed 
for the time of year quite abnormal, degrees of cold, and 
they were retarded by unusually bad surface. They reached 
the Middle Barrier Depot on the 2nd March but found a 
shortage of oil, due to a leak, leaving hardly sufficient to 
take them to the next depot. The temperature was - 40 0 . 
Captain Oates disclosed the state of his feet, which were 
most seriously frost-bitten. Every circumstance was 
against them, and the danger was rapidly increasing. 
The surface continued tei'rible and retarded them fatally. 
" Amongst ourselves/' wrote Scott, "we are unendingly 
cheerful, but what each man feels in his heart I can only 
guess/' By the 6th Oates was unable to pull, and suffer- 
ing great pain. He got worse and worse ; but was always 
cheery, and never made a complaint. On the 17th the 
end came. It was blowing a gale. He said "I am just 
going outside and may be some time/' He knew they 
would never leave him and that he was increasing their 
danger. He nobly resolved to sacrifice himself. "It was 
the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. We 
all hope to meet the end in a similar spirit, and assuredly 
the end is not far/' Hope was departing. On Sunday 
March 21st they were only eleven miles from One-ton 
Depot, getting more and more unequal to the work. 
Yet they had brought the great extra weight of 35 lb. of 
fossils all the way, a monument to the heroism of the 
gallant discoverers. Scott was now in as bad case as 
Oates had been. The tent was pitched, Wilson and 
Bowers intending to go to the depot and back for fuel. 
But a furious gale, rendering the journey impossible, blew 
for several days from S.W. This was the final blow. Scott 
wrote letters to relations and friends until death caused 
his pencil to drop from his hand. Every sentence was 
intended to give them consolation and comfort. He also 
left a touching appeal to his countrymen. He died as he 
had lived, one of the most beautiful characters in our 
