



Produced by Al Haines








[Frontispiece: The Summit of Mount Everest.  (_By permission of the
Mount Everest Committee._)]




  THE LAST SECRETS

  The Final Mysteries of Exploration


  By JOHN BUCHAN



  THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD.
  LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK




  _First Impression, September 1923_


  PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT
  THE PRESS OF THE PUBLISHERS




  TO THE MEMORY OF
  BRIG.-GEN. CECIL RAWLING, C.M.G., C.I.E.
  WHO FELL AT THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES
  AN INTREPID EXPLORER
  A GALLANT SOLDIER
  AND THE BEST OF FRIENDS




PREFACE

The first two decades of the twentieth century will rank as a most
distinguished era in the history of exploration, for during them many
of the great geographical riddles of the world have been solved.
This book contains a record of some of the main achievements.  What
Nansen said of Polar exploration is true of all exploration; its
story is a "mighty manifestation of the power of the Unknown over the
mind of man."  The Unknown