260 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [May 
I do not think there can be any life quite so demon- 
strative of character as that which we had on these ex- 
peditions. One sees a remarkable reassortment of values. 
Under ordinary conditions it is so easy to carry a point 
with a little bounce ; self-assertion is a mask which covers 
many a weakness. As a rule we have neither the time 
nor the desire to look beneath it, and so it is that commonly 
we accept people on their own valuation. Here the 
outward show is nothing, it is the inward purpose that 
counts. So the * gods ' dwindle and the humble supplant 
them. Pretence is useless. 
One sees Wilson busy with pencil and colour box, 
rapidly and steadily adding to his portfolio of charming 
sketches and at intervals filling the gaps in his zoological 
work of Discovery times ; withal ready and willing to give 
advice and assistance to others at all times ; his sound 
judgment appreciated and therefore a constant referee. 
Simpson, master of his craft, untiringly attentive to 
the working of his numerous self-recording instruments, 
observing all changes with scientific acumen, doing the 
work of two observers at least and yet ever seeking to 
correlate an expanded scope. So the current meteoro- 
logical and magnetic observations are taken as never 
before by Polar expeditions, 
Wright, good-hearted, strong, keen, striving to saturate 
his mind with the ice problems of this wonderful region. 
He has taken the electrical work in hand with all its 
modern interest of association with radio-activity. 
Evans, with a clear-minded zeal in his own work, 
