TEE DISCOVERY'S WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12698, 29 October 1904, Page 4 (Supplement)

TEE DISCOVERY'S WORK.

HISTORY OP WORLD TAUGHT BY FOSSILS.

T&xre were no salvoes of artillery, no cheers, no hands, no triumphal arches to welcome the Discovery Home from the Antarctic region!; on her arrival at Portsmouth ; yet the quiet, brown-faced men who brought the vessel back had wrested from the snowy bosom of the South Polar regions a secret which will shake the foundations of many a scientific belief. The leaders of the expedition have done their lest to keep the 1 secret from public knowledge until its true J import has been learnt. Certain fossils j have, been found which prova beyond doubt that once— one yet can tell how long ago —mammals, and perhaps even men, lived ] upon the land where now are utter desola- | tion and life-destroying ice and snow. The fossils ■ were' packed into t\a boxes and brought to London under special escort to the British Museum,- where they await inquiry by specialists. In speaking of the matter, Sir ! dements Markham was most guarded. - Still, he admitted that the fossils must in any case mean much. They may upset all the theories) as to the Polar system and the geological origin and age of the world. It was a strange experience to go on board the trim little ship that had held 47 lives from death through two , long Antarctic winters. There was a natural curiosity to see how men would look after so long an absence from the world of men. And wonder of this sort seems to have been in the mind of the King, for in the message which His Majesty sent an aide-de-camp to deliver to the officers and crew he congratulated* them upon their 'safe return, and trusted they were well They were well ■<■ one 'iad but to look at them to see that. It is doubtful if a set of men looking more "fit" could be found. Yet it struck one that.' they were not quite as other men are. They looked at one with frost-blue eyes that seemed to gaze across a great distance. Their jikins were almost black, like seasoned mahogany, and their movements were deliberate, as though they had long been used to heavy garments that encumbered them; and all of them poke in curiously slow voices. They had been well all through the voyage, with the exception of » slight outbreak of scurvy, which had been checked by casting aside tinned food in favour of ftesh seal's meat. Only one of their number, too, had been lost, and that wffs due to accident. Not.that their good health was in any way due to the provisions, which Sir Clements himself denounced "as " abominably kid" Of this more will be heard hereafter,:: for much of the tinned food has been brought back. In the saloon, where there was a portrait of the King that had been toasted every night at dinner, the wives, sweethearts, and'sisters'.of the officers foregathered with their men folk. The wives and sweethearts and the mothers of: the men also went on board, and strolled j about or drank tea on the cosy mess deck. Th«y made much of the four Siberian dogs, which had been bred on board from the reminder of the sledge packs. The parents had all died upon the voyage Home. '.Llvire was : also a pretty Samoyed© dog, wine,;, found its admirers. The 'announcemerit of prompt honours for the officers and crew of the Discovery comes from the Admiralty His -Majesty has directed that a sew medal for service, in the Polar regions shall be, struck granted to the officers and crew of the Discovery, in recognition of the ..successful accomplishment of their enterprise. Commander Robert Falcon Scott, M.V.O.,.has been promoted to the rank of captain iv.. the Royal haw, to dar<» September 10,'1904. Captain Scott and the officers and men of the Discovery ware entertained at a banquet at the Portsmouth Town Hall by the Mayor of the borough. Among those present were Sir Clements Markham, Mr. Arthur Lee, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Vesey Hamilton, and other distinguished men. The Major, in proposing the toast of the evening, said that nominally the expedition wis a private venture, but practically it was •mx effort of the British navy. " Captain Scott, who was given a great ovation, ssid lie did not think that in their wildest dreams : the members of the crew conceived that they would be received in the manner they had been received. It was particularly gratifying to them to have that reception at Portsmouth. • Out of thirty-seven of them that remained in the ship during the second win- ,' ter, thirty belonged to the Royal navy. They all appreciated .the feac-t of that night, but they could imagine even how much more it would have been appreciated in the? Antarctic regions, if they had had it served up on a ,great barrier or on the inland ice., {Laughter-) /,...;• J