SCOTT'S DIARY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 41, 24 June 1913, Page 5

SCOTT'S DIARY.

OFF TO THE SOUTH POLE. AFTER CLEARING NEW ZEALAND [By Electric Telegraph —Copyright | [Umtku Pkess Association.] London, Juno 23. The July number of the Strand Magazine publishes the first instalment of Captain Scott's story from his journals, finely illustrated with photographs. The narrative covers the journey from New Zealand to the establishment of the depots preparatory to the advance on the Polo. Soott graphically describes the grave outlook when the pumps were chpked after clearing New Zealand, and the danger of foundering, and how Oates and Atkinson labored through the night to save the ponies, while the officers literally baled the Terra Nova with buckets. Williams worked in sweltering heat behind the boilers, and cut the bulkhead, ing Lieutenant Bowers to reach the pump to clear the suction. PREPARED TO "PIG IT." - The spirit of the crew throughout, says Scott, was instanced by the way they cheerfully prepared to "pig it" in the forecastle in order to provide more storage for stores. Cheerfulness and good-fellowship reigned, whether in calm or storm. Bowers's organising genius was wonderful. Scott relates a thrilling incident when six killer whales rose under a floe on which they were panting with a number of dogs. The floe was shattered to fragments, and all marvellously escaped. The depot-laying was greatly hampered by soft snow. The ponies were useless until a sort of snow shoe was devised by Scott. THE GLORIOUS UNCERTAINTY. Ho continues that extraordinary uncertainties were presented, and every day some new fact or neAv obstacle was revealed, threatening grave obstruction. "I suppose," he continues, "this is the reason which makes the game so well worth the playing." The dogs grew a little fierce, and one bit Scott, but Meares' intervention prevented tho whole pack attacking him. Many fights occurred. The pack would be peaceful one moment, and become tearing, raging, fighting devils the next. Tho team falling into a crevasse was an exciting incident. Eleven dogs out of thirteen were rescued after a herculean task. NEWS OF AMUNDSEN. Scott, on the return to Safety Camp, received Campbell's letter announcing that Amundsen was ready ■with his dogs to dash to the Pole earlier than was possible with ponies. Scott resolved to adhere to his original plans. The preliminary work revealed a disturbing factor, for the ponies lost their condition in the blizzards. "This," says Scott, "makes a late start nece'ssary next, year." He recapitulates Evans's Albert Hall story of Bowers's and hits party's bravery on the ice floe* at Hut Point, and eulogises the way they stuck to the ponies, knowing that their loss would ruin his plans. The next instalment will describe tho winter quarters and the start on the fatal journey.

TEN LARGE VOLUMES FOUND IN HIS TENT.

The New York correspondent of the Daily Express cabled on May 4, w follows:

A telegram to the 1 Sun from London etates that Mr Trumbell White, the editor of Everybody's Magazine, was in London a fortnight expediting the preparation of Captain Scott's manuscript, on which Lady Scott and Commander Evans--are working together. Mr Leonard Huxley, the son of the famous scient. ist, is editing the work. "Captain Scott's- diary," said Mr White to the Sun correspondent, "consists of ten large volumes written in pencil. It is still in perfect condition, after lying for nine months in the tragic death-smitten tent. "The last three volumes are devoted to the dash from the Pole. 1 struck me as most remarkable that the very last passage—Captain Scott's? appeal to his country on behalf of the dependents that he and his comradesi left behind them—is, written without erasure, interlineation, or connection of anv kind.

"It is a fine passage, and even a skilled writer might well have niacin emendations and corrections before it was in the form that Captain Scott evidently wrote it. 1 think ho must have had a great uplifting, a great stirring of the soul, at the very finish when he wrote so fluently that fine and touching appeal." Mr White expressed his sincere admiration for Lady Scott's fine and courageous character, and ventured to prophesy that "the hoy Peter would one day he a national character." Commander E. R. G. R. Evans who succeeded Captain Scott in the command of the British Antarctic Expedition, visited Petty Officer Edgar Evans' widow at Swansea on May 2 and handed to her the dead man', l diary and pocket-hook. Mrs Evans told an Express representative afterwards that she promised Commander Evans that the content? of the diary should not be disclosed for two years, as he requested. [Seamen Evans' diary is not to he published for two years owing V\ an agreement entered into by members of the expedition that they should not publish anything which would interfere with Captain Scott's rights to give the first account of the expedi< tion.l