extraordinary value he placed upon his help, and after the share which he
took in the Depot and Winter Journeys it was clear that he would probably
be taken in the Polar Party, as indeed proved to be the case. No man of
that party better deserved his place. "I believe he is the hardest
traveller that ever undertook a Polar Journey, as well as one of the most
undaunted."[140]

The standard is high.

[Illustration: FROZEN SEA AND CLIFFS OF ICE]

Bowers gave us two of our best lectures, the first on the Evolution of
Sledge Foods, at the end of which he discussed our own rations on the
Depot Journey, and made suggestions which he had worked out
scientifically for those of the Polar Journey. His arguments were sound
enough to disarm the hostility if not to convert to his opinions at least
one scientist who had come to hear him strongly of opinion that an
untrained man should not discuss so complex a subject. The second
lecture, on the Evolution of Polar Clothing, was also the fruit of much
work. The general conclusion come to (and this was after the Winter
Journey) was that our own clothing and equipment could not be bettered in
any important respect, though it must be always understood that the
expedition wore wind-proof clothing and not furs, except for hands and
feet. When man-hauling, wind-proof, I am convinced, cannot be improved
upon, but for dog-driving in cold weather I suspect that furs may be
better.

The table was cleared after supper and we sat round it for these lectures
three times a week. There was no compulsion about them, and the seamen
only turned up for those which especially interested them, such as
Meares' vivid account of his journeyings on the Eastern or Chinese
borderland of Thibet. This land is inhabited by the 'Eighteen Tribes,'
the original inhabitants of Thibet who were driven out by the present
inhabitants, and Meares told us chiefly of the Lolos who killed his
companion Brook after having persuaded him that they were friendly and
anxious to help him. "He had no pictures and very makeshift maps, yet he
held us really entranced for nearly two hours by the sheer interest of
his adventures. The spirit of the wanderer is in Meares' blood: he has no
happiness but in the wild places of the earth. I have never met so
extreme a type. Even now he is looking forward to getting away by himself
to Hut Point, tired already of our scant measure of civilization."[141]

Three lectures a week were too many i