the vast number of readers of his journal will be deeply impressed
with the beauty of his character. The chief traits which shone forth
through his life were conspicuous in the hour of death. There are few
events in history to be compared, for grandeur and pathos, with the
last closing scene in that silent wilderness of snow. The great leader,
with the bodies of his dearest friends beside him, wrote and wrote
until the pencil dropped from his dying grasp. There was no thought
of himself, only the earnest desire to give comfort and consolation
to others in their sorrow. His very last lines were written lest he
who induced him to enter upon Antarctic work should now feel regret
for what he had done.

'If I cannot write to Sir Clements, tell him I thought much of him,
and never regretted his putting me in command of the _Discovery_.'

CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM.

Sept. 1913.



Contents of the First Volume



CONTENTS


CHAPTER I