BYRD'S ISOLATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 14, 27 October 1934, Page 5

BYRD'S ISOLATION

NARRATIVE OF EXPERIENCE. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESS GRADUAL POISONING BY FUMES. (United Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 8.45 a.m.) LITTLE AMERICA, Oct. 26. Admiral R. E. Byrd dispatches the following account for the Australian Press Association of his experiences while in solitary isolation at the advance base:— "Coming back even to Little America is like .returning to a different world. No intelligent. man could live isolated in that shack through the Polar winter night, enduring some of the coldest temperatures ever a-ecord-ed and not discover something new about himself, and about people and things. There were several weeks that I was kept busy and happy. The photograph and books occupied me during the more leisurely hours in the afternoon. Besides the meteorological and auroral records, I kept a diary. Out there I was utterly beyond the urgencies and the transient crises of every-day life. There was no telephones, traffic noises, creditors, importuning friends, formal dinners, stock market reports, economic crises, defeatists, bores, or stiff collars. It was great. "Then, during the last weeks, my jjrouble began. Unknown to me, I was gradually being poisoned by fumes from the kerosene stove. My eyes commenced to smart, puzzling aches and pains developed in my body. About the same time I was also seriously poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes from the small gas generator for powering the radio. The poison settled, into my body.. I was all but helpless. The first two weeks of June were really hell. I did not think! had a chance. At first it was bewildering, then dismaying. I counted my time in minutes. Finally I think I accepted it calmly. There was nothing else to do. Then, to my great surprise, slow improvement set in toward the end of June. With more strength, . I was able to take greater care in my diet, but again in July, during the pjeriod of greatest cold, my health began failing, until Poulter arrived. I have been through a wonderful exr perience. I have been enriched."