the name of 'The King Haakon VII.' It was a vast plain, alike in all
directions, mile after mile."

Here in brilliant sunshine the little party camped, taking
observations till 17th December, when, fastening to the ground a
little tent with the Norwegian flag and the _Fram_ pennant, they gave
it the name "Polheim" and started for home.

[Illustration: CAPTAIN ROALD AMUNDSEN TAKING SIGHTS AT THE SOUTH POLE.
From a photograph, by permission of Mr. John Murray and the
_Illustrated London News_.]

So the North and South Poles yielded up their well-hoarded secrets
after centuries of waiting, within two and a half years of one another.

They had claimed more lives than any exploration had done before, or
is ever likely to do again.

And so ends the last of these great earth-stories--stories which have
made the world what it is to-day--and we may well say with one of the
most successful explorers of our times, "The future may give us
thrilling stories of the conquest of the air, but the spirit of man
has mastered the earth."

DATES OF CHIEF EVENTS

PAGE DATE
4 The oldest known Ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.C. 6000-5000
7 Expedition to Punt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 1600
11 Phoenician Expeditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 700
19 Neco's Fleet built . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 613
23 Anaximander, the Greek, invents Maps . . . . . . " 580
25 Hecataeus writes the First Geography . . . . . . " 500
27 Herodotus describes Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . " 446
30 Hanno sails down West Coast of Africa . . . . . . " 450
32 Xenophon crosses Asia Minor . . . . . . . . . . . " 401
38 Alexander the Great finds India . . . . . . . . . " 327
41 Nearchus navigates the Indian Ocean . . . . . . . " 326
45 The Geography of Eratosthenes . . . . . . . . . . " 240-196
48 Pytheas discovers the British Isles and Thule . . " 333
55 Julius Caesar explores France, Britain, Germany . " 60-54
61 Strabo's Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 18
68 Agricola discovers the Highlands . . . . . . . . " 83
71 Pliny's Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 170
74 Ptolemy's Geography and Maps . . . . . . . . . . " 159
78 The First Guide for Travellers . . . . . . . . . Fou