The Press. MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1901. SOUTHWARD HO!

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11155, 23 December 1901, Page 4

The Press. MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1901. SOUTHWARD HO!

Time swung back many, years at Lyttelton on Saturday, when the Discovery left on her voyage to the Antarctic. We were once more living: in the bold Elizabethan days, when voyages of discovery were matters of yearly happening, andjvrben stout-heart-ed voyagers dared unknown seas in vessels which the Discovery would have dwarfed as she herself was dwarfed by her close attendant, the giant Rimutaka. Qne thought of Drake and Dampier, of Cook, and of many another great Englishman whose love of adventure carried them into seas where yet the flag of England had never flown. One could almost fancy himself transported to Plymouth Sound or some little port- in the • West Conntry, watching the departure, for some mysterious, perhaps mythical, goal, of a tiny expedition, ill-equipped, as one would think nowadays, for doing more than creeping about the coasts, yet prepared' to undertake such high emprises as are not left to explorers in these-times. The world has grown smaller since then—the pathless, seas first furrowed by the keels, of those brave old navigators are now the highways of liners, the "shuttles of the Empire's, loojih," and ccinparatively little remains for the discoverer by- sea. Yet the spirit of those days is not dead, though the twentieth century- gives -it scant opportunity and encouragement, and we saw its survival on Saturday when ifihe little Discovery, whose quaint build emphasised the resemblance of the expedition to those; enterprises of bygone centuries; set sail for-the last great sea and continent tha* unmapped. The sights and scenes of; 1 Saturday are recorded elsewhere. They rank, as among the most interesting that Lyttelton has ever seen, and he must have been a dullwitted spectator who was not touched by some unwonted thrill as,. amid the cheers of the crowded wharyes and shipping, the little vessel moved slowly away. There is no need at this hour to recapitulate the history of tha „ expedition^, its objects, and its hopes. Ittk members have a great opportunity toj'ja.ve that England's pride in' and particularly in a branch of discovery that was once pecuU-rly/her own, has only been dormant. Vast possibilities lie before them. ' Theirs may be the fortune to team such secrets of nature as have never before been revealed, to solve problems of the greatest importance ,to science. They will not have the Antarctic to themselves. Skilled investigators will be at work on the same great questions tha* still await elucidation, but we can/rely 'upon ' the staff of the Discovery ,to do all that lies in their power, ,to _® the foremost as< they will he [ *be 'earliest, -in the field. They -have impressed all who have made their acquaintance as Deing most earnest in their ~d«sir«~-'to" mai»-'the cruise of thfe Discovery one in'the history of scientific exploration, and in spite of all the d-mculMes and hardships they may enoonnter; possiMy __reatef than are even imagined, we can be sure,that the spirit whdeh prompted ibhem to volu_teer for an arduous, duty will carry them through the dangers that many oppose them. They made many friends'' ; h_re, ' and the hospitality accorded 'to.them, which Captain Scott acknowledges so warmly in 'his kfcter"_n this issue, would, have been doubled if they _a_ nob had' their hands.so full of work. Scanty as 'their leisure has been, they have spent ii freely in showing many forandreds of -visitors ovea* their ship and __ye never seemed to tire of a task that must,have becc-_e_ta_otonoiis in the ex. treme. . Canterbury people have evidently appreciated the privilege done city in making it the Discovery's base and port' of depart-nafbr the __*ta.ctie, and Joey he trusted to' do* __udh more -when, as we all hope, she casts anchor, : two years hence, in Lyttelton hai*o_r. " Meanwhile, among _a_ -ha wishes of "God-s_ieed, success, and a safe «tnr_t r " which have followed the Discovery's <fepaolsire,'.no__ «*e heartier or more __loere than those uttered by New Zealand.'