The Worst Journey in the World | Page 3

Ramp, and the Hut at Cape Evans. 96 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
Dog-skin outer Mitts showing lampwick Lashings for slinging over the Shoulders. 114
Sledging Spoon, Pannikin and Cup, which pack into the inner Cooker. 114 _From sketches by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
Hut Point from the bottom of Observation Hill, showing the Bay in which the Discovery lay, the Discovery Hut, Vince's Cross, the frozen sea and the Western Mountains. 158 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
Seals. 162
From the Sea. 162 _From sketches by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
Winter Quarters at Cape Evans. Notice the Whale-back clouds on Erebus, the débris cones on the Ramp, and the anemometer pipes which had to be cleared during blizzard by way of the ladder at the end of the Hut. 172 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
A Cornice of Snow formed upon a Cliff by wind and drift. 176 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
PLATE I. A panoramic view over Cape Evans, and McMurdo Sound from the Ramp. 184 _From photographs by F. Debenham._
The sea's fringe of Ice growing outwards from the Land. 198 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
Leading Ponies on the Barrier. November 20, 1911. 206 _From a sketch for a water-colour drawing by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
Frozen sea and cliffs of Ice: the snout of the Barne Glacier in North Bay. 212 _From a photograph by C. S. Wright._
Erebus and Land's End from the Sea-ice. 224 _From a photograph by C. S. Wright._
Erebus from Great Razorback Island. 224 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
Two Emperor Penguins. 234 _From a photograph by C. S. Wright._
PLATE II. A panoramic view of Ross Island from Crater Hill, looking along the Hut Point Peninsula, showing some of the topography of the Winter Journey. 236 _From photographs by F. Debenham._
Camping after Dark. 246 _From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
Camp work in a Blizzard: passing the cooker into the tent. 256 _From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
A procession of Emperor Penguins. 264 _From a photograph by C. S. Wright._
The Knoll behind the Cliffs of Cape Crozier. 264 _From a photograph by F. Debenham._
The Barrier pressure at Cape Crozier, with the Knoll. Part of the bay in which the Emperor Penguins lay their eggs is visible. 266 _From a photograph by C. S. Wright._
The Emperor Penguins nursing their Chicks on the Sea-ice, with the cliffs of the Barrier behind. 268 _From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
Mount Erebus and detail of Ice-pressure. 280 _From photographs by C. S. Wright._
Down a Crevasse. 290 _From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson._
MAPS
From New Zealand to the South Pole. lxiv Hut Point. From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson. 128 Cape Evans and McMurdo Sound. 194 The Winter Journey. 294

INTRODUCTION
Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised. It is the only form of adventure in which you put on your clothes at Michaelmas and keep them on until Christmas, and, save for a layer of the natural grease of the body, find them as clean as though they were new. It is more lonely than London, more secluded than any monastery, and the post comes but once a year. As men will compare the hardships of France, Palestine, or Mesopotamia, so it would be interesting to contrast the rival claims of the Antarctic as a medium of discomfort. A member of Campbell's party tells me that the trenches at Ypres were a comparative picnic. But until somebody can evolve a standard of endurance I am unable to see how it can be done. Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on earth has a worse time than an Emperor penguin.
Even now the Antarctic is to the rest of the earth as the Abode of the Gods was to the ancient Chaldees, a precipitous and mammoth land lying far beyond the seas which encircled man's habitation, and nothing is more striking about the exploration of the Southern Polar regions than its absence, for when King Alfred reigned in England the Vikings were navigating the ice-fields of the North; yet when Wellington fought the battle of Waterloo there was still an undiscovered continent in the South.
For those who wish to read an account of the history of Antarctic exploration there is an excellent chapter in Scott's Voyage of the Discovery and elsewhere. I do not propose to give any general survey of this kind here, but complaints have been made to me that Scott's Last Expedition plunges the general reader into a neighbourhood which he is supposed to know all about, while actually he is lost, having no idea what the Discovery was, or where Castle Rock or Hut Point stand. For the better understanding of the references to particular expeditions, to