“NEW AND HEROIC.”

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 67, 24 July 1913, Page 5

“NEW AND HEROIC.”

CAPTAIN SCOTT’S DIARY.

AXOT H Ell 1X ST ALM ENT.

[By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] [United Press Association.l London. July 23. Captain Scott’s story in the Strand .Magazine lor Avgust, deals with the

wintering at Cape Evans. He pays a tribute to the excellence with which the scientists fitted out the quarters. On St. George’s Day they saw the last of the sun, and after that there was only a long mild twlight. The

scientists lectured twice weekly, and all hands devoted their time to perfecting arrangements lor the southern advance, impelling Scott to chronicle:

—“lt is well with the scientific interests, which gave a solid justification for

the expedition.. Nothing, even priority at the Pole, can prevent the expedition from ranking as the most important ever directed to the Polar regions. I consider it a triumph to have collected such men.” EMPERORS OF FROST. He speaks admiringly of Dr. Wilson’s' expedition to the emperor penguins’ rookery at Cape Crozier. He performed the journey in 109 degrees of irost. “No civilised being,” he writes, “ever encountered such a temperature sheltered only by a canvas tent. Amundsen experienced it in the Arctic tempered by Eskimo igloos. A blizzard assailed the party, but the members staggered along in almost complete darkness. A gale wrecked the tent, and they were compelled to lie in sleeping-bags all night and for a day wondering how all would end. They were foodless for forty-eight hours.

“This,” says Scott, “is one of the gallantest stories in Polar history. That men should wander in the depth cf the Polar night, in the face of dismal cold and the fiercest gales, is something new. That they should persist for five weeks is heroic. They obtained no mean scientific results, contributing greatly to our knowlege

of penguins, and exacted much information on climatology.”

THE COMING OF A BLIZZARD

Scott describes the coming of a bliz-

ward. The barometer fell rapidly, the wind in fitful gusts rising from four miles to 68 miles and decreasing to -3 miles, all within a minute. Thu suction of these gusts was enormous and destructive.

Experiments were,carried out on the

Eerrar Glacier, and showed that the ice advanced 37ft in seven and a-half months, confirming the belief of the slow movement of the coastal glaciers.

Ho recounts the discovery of two specimens of wingless insects in thousands, under pebbles in Granite Harbor.

As spring drew on, Scott, with the others, marched 175 miles to the western mountains, to complete certain observations and gain sledging practice. THE BREATH OF FATE. On November first, the fateful southern journey began. The weather was sweltering and the air breathless. The glare was intense, although the temperature was minus twenty-two. “One’s mind,” says Scott, “sought comparison in the lot of sunlit streets and scorching pavements, yet six hours ago my thumbs were frost bitten.” ihe night marching resorted to was more pleasureable.

By November 5, the motor-cars had broken down, yet would have proved oi utility if furrished with engines to withstand the climate.

The article is illustrated by remarkable photographs of icebergs and ice formations.