f the hottest places on the globe.
My knowledge is insufficient to say whether it is possible that any trace
can be found here of cause and effect, especially since the opposite
seems to be the more common experience, in that such people as return
from India to England generally find the English winter trying. I give
the fact for what it may be worth, remarking only that the cold of an
English winter is generally damp, while that of the Antarctic is dry, so
far at any rate as the atmosphere is concerned. Bowers himself always
professed the greatest indifference not only to cold, but also to heat,
and his indifference was not that of a 'poseur,' as many experiences will
show.

At the same time he was temperamentally one who refused to admit
difficulties. Indeed, if he did not actually welcome them he greeted them
with scorn, and in scorning went far to master them. Scott believed that
difficulties were made to be overcome: Bowers certainly believed that he
was the man to overcome them. This self-confidence was based on a very
deep and broad religious feeling, and carried conviction with it. The men
swore by him both on the ship and ashore. "He's all right," was their
judgment of his seamanship, which was admirable. "I like being with
Birdie, because I always know where I am," was the remark made to me by
an officer one evening as we pitched the tent. We had just been spending
some time in picking up a depot which a less able man might well have
missed.

As he was one of the two or three greatest friends of my life I find it
hard to give the reader a mental picture of Birdie Bowers which will not
appear extravagant. There were times when his optimism appeared forced
and formal though I believe it was not really so: there were times when I
have almost hated him for his infernal cheerfulness. To those accustomed
to judge men by the standards of their fashionable and corseted
drawing-rooms Bowers appeared crude. "You couldn't kill that man if you
took a pole-axe to him," was the comment of a New Zealander at a dance at
Christchurch. Such men may be at a discount in conventional life; but
give me a snowy ice-floe waving about on the top of a black swell, a ship
thrown aback, a sledge-party almost shattered, or one that has just upset
their supper on to the floorcloth of the tent (which is much the same
thing), and I will lie down and cry for Bowers to come and lead me to
food and safety.

Those whom the gods love die young