The Lands of Silence: A History of Arctic and Antarctic Exploration

Abstract

IT is impossible to bear in mind, while reading this book, that it is the posthumous work of an octogenarian. To those who knew the author in the great days of Antarctic propaganda twenty-five years ago, these enthusiastic appreciations of old explorers bring back the very tones of the eager living voice. No man ever did more to make the glories of the past live again ih the exploits of his own day, and Sir Clements Markham will always be remembered as a potent force in exploration and an inspiring historian. He was a hero-worshipper whose incense has imparted an undying charm to the memory of the Elizabethan adventurers and to the officers of the Franklin search. He was a stimulating guide to the young explorers whom he sent out to the Antarctic, and he supported the men of his choice through thick and thin, rewarding them while living, and honouring them when dead.

The Lands of Silence: A History of Arctic and Antarctic Exploration.

By Sir Clements R. Markham. Pp. xii + 539. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1921.) 45s. net.