PREFACE 
Fourteen years ago Robert Falcon Scott was a rising 
naval officer, able, accomplished, popular, highly thought 
of by his superiors, and devoted to his noble profession. 
It was a serious responsibility to induce him to take up 
the work of an explorer ; yet no man living could be found 
who was so well fitted to command a great Antarctic 
Expedition. The undertaking was new and unpre- 
cedented. The object was to explore the unknown 
Antarctic Continent by land. Captain Scott entered 
upon the enterprise with enthusiasm tempered by prudence 
and sound sense. All had to be learnt by a thorough 
study of the history of Arctic travelling, combined with 
experience of different conditions in the Antarctic Regions. 
Scott was the initiator and founder of Antarctic sledge- 
travelling. 
His discoveries were of great importance. The survey 
and soundings along the Barrier cliffs, the discovery of 
King Edward Land, the discovery of Ross Island and the 
other volcanic islets, the examination of the Barrier 
surface, the discovery of the Victoria Mountains — a range 
of great height and many hundreds of miles in length, 
which had only before been seen from a distance out at 
