THE DIARY OF DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20474, 28 January 1930, Page 8

THE DIARY OF DEATH.

(EXPLORERS' TRAGIC FATE.

[HAROLD, ADLARD'S PASSING.

LONELY END GF CHRISTIAN.

.WORDS ON FINAL PAGE.

Copyright. , No. IV. The final extracts from the diary of Edaar Vernon Christian, the last member of "the ill-fated Hornby expedition to the Canadian North-West territory, are published to-, day. Yesterday's instalment gave the particulars of the death of Jack Hornby, cn April 16, 1927. and brought the narrative up to a few days Inter, when 'Harold Adlard was rapidly sinking. The reader to-day is told of the death of Adlard and of the last days of the youth Christian, ■who continued the entries in his diary until lie was too weak from slow starvation to pen any further words. His death is supposed to have occurred on Juno 1, 1927, e>r just afterwards. May 4.-r . . . " At. 10.45 p.m. dear '{Harold passed away after a bad relapse the previous night.. ... I think bones ihave been the trouble all along. . . . lAs'for myself, I am now played out after Ho sleep and no food. . . . To-day I Jriusfc fix things up as best as possible, cut wood, dig in snow [or fish, and trust for a good to-morrow. I cannot hunt, as walking in -soft snow is beyond my cowers now, and the weather is bad. Yet Christian, alone in the wastes, unable to "rustle grub," his fellow explorers 'dead, does not discuss the probability of dying in the lonely, ill-fated cabin. He records tha simple "details of looking for scraps of food and the progress of his Sllness. "As Thin as a Rake." May 7.—1 write all this down us I Ihink it. is of importance seeing how suddenly Harold and Jack went ill, but I .jnust stick to my guns and endeavour to (cure myself. • So Christian lived on, never entirely 'despairing. There are signs of spring. (Then., at a tima when he recalled the English countryside burgeoning with new life, there was a grudging concession from ' Jsature.

May B.—Sunshine- all day and thawing

But the, lonely explorer has become "as ithin as a .rake" and jiiis joints "jerk in land out of position instead of smoothly." May 13. —I vent out., got some water, tut a little wood I had outside, and found

I could hardly stand. . . . What food I now eat is near the door in a heap of See

May 14. —How long will grub last on Ecrap pile I know not. I certainly canpot get strong on it. . . . After burning what he can of the furni'iure to keep tne fire going, on the 18th Christian haggardly watches the return of ;the birds to the Barrens- —"one swan flew pver, one raven and three j'obins I saw. There is one entry for May 20 to |June 1: , . On 22nd I found lots of meat and four good meaty bones covered with fat and grease. These put me on my legs for jthree days. ... - Alas, I got weaker *ind weaker. The Approaching End. June I.—l have grub 'on hand, but [weaker than have ever been in my life, land no migrations north of birds and animals since 19 th (swan). Yesterday I was crawling, having cut last piece of jwood in house to .cook the food I had, ;which is a very fat piece of caribou hide ► . at 2 a.m. went to bed feeling icontent, and bowl full °f fish by me jeat in morning. 9 a.m.—Weaker than ever. Have eaten fell'l can. Have food on hand, but heart 'peeteririg. •*• Sunshine is bright now. See if that does any good to me if I get out and bring in wood to make fire to-night. And then, on a day undated, knowing [the-end. was coming, he wrote: —"Make preparations now." Further down this tragic page of the 'diary are Christian's last words penned in a quavering hand : "Got out too weak and all in nowJeft things too late." Thus passed the last of those three great adventurers, quietly and heroically. ,Thev fought against overwhelming odds in the manner of Titans, scorning tne terrors of the vast, treacherous North. But they were "all in" and they "left things late."

Letters to Father and Mother. It was probably before making this last entry. in the , diary that the dying boy .wrote two letters to his parents, which he placed in' the diary in the stove. To ' jhis father he said : " Jack Hornby always wished to see ■this, country before he gave up the life in the Arctic regions, ana wanted someone iwith him. And I was the one this time, 1 realise why he wanted a boy of my age ;with him, and I realise why one other should come —in order to make sure I got put safe.- But, alas, the Thelon is not jwhafc it is cracked up to be, I don't think.: I have been trying to struggle by myself for over a month and help my • ether poor pal, but spring is late here and I cannot get fresh meat, although have always hacj food to eat at times. Some jolly good meals only a few days aco, which did not put me in condition to hunt fresh food. But the weather blew cold, and to-day., June 1, has seen me with fine weather, food, but not fresh, and unable fresh, .being too weak pnd played out." The other letter was:— "Dear Mother,— Feeling weak now, can only write little. Sorry left it so late; bitf, alas, I have struggled hard. Please don't blame'dear Jack. Ever loving and thankful to you for all a Dear Mother is to a boy and has been to me. " Bye, hve; love to all and Dulc. Rita, (Fred, Charles-and Gwen—Edgar." The bodies of Hornby, Adlard and Christian—Us well as Christian's diary—were discovered in their log cabin on July SSL 1 ast by a search party. (Concluded.)