Polewards.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XXIII, 7 December 1901, Page 1070

Polewards.

I'he British Antarctic Exploring vessel Discovert' arrived in Lyttelton last week en route for the Southern Pole, or as hear to that, point a.s she can get. I understand the Discovery proclaims her mission in every line. When you get on to her deck yon instinctively call for your overcoat, although the thermometer-may register 70 degreesan the shade> Below decks your teeth are inclined, to chatter when you behold the elaborate devices for keeping out the cold and in the heat. It would be impossible to become ah Arctic or Antarctic explorer in the heat of the moment, I should say. There Is a romance about the vessel setting sale for palmy isles and groves of spice that immediately takes the mind captive. Visions of sunny shores rise up before the eye, and we are ready to sign the ship's articles and be off without a second thought. But one must have the true exploring instinct much more deeply developed who elects to be of the Discovery's company. No tropic visions of a lotus land or country of golden streams beckon his fancy; but ■instead dreary interminable icefields, inhospitable tracts given over to Polar bears, privations innumerable, dangers and probably death fill the picture. The searcher for the Pole, north or south, is the only ideal explorer. No suspicion of ulterior gain

attaches to his quest. He is indeed Science’s Maiden Knight — vowed to her hard service, and hers alone. To be such u Sir Galahad of the Snows requires a special physical aud mental ■outfit, which, 1 fear, not many of us here possess; and, although one mjght think if would be a point of honour among us to discover our own Pole, 1 am not aware that either New Zealand or Australia is represented in the Antarctic expedition.