i9i2] DEATH OF P.O. KVANS 573 
and when wc got him into the tent oolite comatose. He 
died quietly at 12.30 a.m. On discussing the symptom 
wc think he began to get weaker just before we reached 
the Pole, and that his downward path was accelerated 
first by the shock of his frostbitten lingers, and later by 
falls during rough travelling on the glacier, further by his 
loss of all confidence in himself. Wilson thinks it certain 
he must have injured his brain by a fall. It is a terrible 
thing to lose a companion in this way, but (aim reflection 
shows that there could not have been a better ending to 
the terrible anxieties of the past week. Discussion ol the 
situation at lunch yesterday shows us what a desperate 
pass we were in with a sick man on our hands at such a 
distance from home. 
At 1 a.m. we packed up ami came down over the 
pressure ridges, finding our depot easily. 
