The first country to complete the outfit of a modern expedition was Belgium. England and Germany now have expeditions in preparation, but the honour of being the first to send a scientific venture, with trained specialists and appropriate equipment to the antarctic, belongs to Belgium. For the origin of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition we are indebted to the energetic efforts of Lieutenant Adrien de Gerlache. By soliciting private subscriptions and finally by securing the financial aid of the Belgian Government, Gerlache succeeded in collecting the sixty thousand dollars which were barely sufficient to fit out the enterprise. The vessel selected for the mission was the Norwegian sealer _Patria_, which was rechristened _Belgica_. She is a strong vessel, of about two hundred and fifty tons, built some ten years ago. She was not strengthened or altered on the plan of Nansen’s vessel, the _Fram_, as has been so often stated. Nevertheless, she proved herself a craft of extraordinary endurance, withstanding the thumps of rocks, iceberg collisions, and pressure in the pack-ice, in a manner perfectly marvellous. Owing to a scarcity of funds, the accoutrements of the ship and the outfit for polar exploration were somewhat imperfect. If we had been compelled to stay longer, or if it had been necessary to make a forced overland journey, or a retreat homeward on the ice, we should have found our equipment inadequate. The members of the expedition were from many lands, as the following list will show: Commandant, Adrien de Gerlache (Belgian). Captain, Georges Lecointe (Belgian), Executive Officer and Hydrographer. Roald Amundsen (Norwegian), 1st Mate. Emile Danco (deceased) (Belgian), Magnetician. Emile Racovitza (Rumanian), Naturalist. Henryk Arctowski (Russian), Geologist, Oceanographer and Meteorologist. Antoine Dobrowolski (Russian), Assistant Meteorologist. Frederick A. Cook (American), Surgeon, Anthropologist and Photographer. ENGINEERS. Henri Somers (Belgian). Max Van Rysselberghe (Belgian). SAILORS. BELGIANS. Jules Melaerts. Jan Van Mirlo. Gustave Dufour. Louis Michotte. NORWEGIANS. Adam Tollefsen. Hjalmar Johansen. Johan Koren. Engebret Knudsen. Carl Augustus Wiencke (deceased). Altogether we numbered nineteen when leaving Punta Arenas--seven officers, housed in the cosy little cabins, and twelve marines, including Dobrowolski, housed in the forecastle. Thus divided, we were two happy families, and as such we tried to extract from the frozen south polar surroundings such rare comforts as regions of perennial snows afford.