case they
were to use fresh meat for both men and dogs. In addition to the
hunting, supplies for the spring sledge work were to be moved from one
cache to another along the coast.

To give variety to the work, the men who remained with the ship during
one moon went into the field the next. The ship's men, engineers and
sailors, seldom went on hunting trips but remained with the ship,
attending to their regular duties and sometimes helping with the work of
equipment.

I had in my cabin a good arctic library--absolutely complete as regards
the work of later years. This included Abruzzi's "On the _Polar Star_
in the Arctic Sea," Nansen's "Farthest North," Nares' "Voyage to the
Polar Sea," Markham's two volumes on arctic explorations, the narratives
of Greely, Hall, Hayes, Kane, Inglefield--in fact, all the stories of
the navigators of the Smith Sound region, as well as those who have
attempted the Pole from other directions, such as the Austrian
expedition under Payer and Weyprecht, Koldewey's East Greenland
expedition, and so forth.

Then, in antarctic literature I had Captain Scott's two magnificent
volumes, "The Voyage of the _Discovery_," Borchgrevink's "The _Southern
Cross_ Expedition to the Antarctic," Nordenskjoeld's "Antarctica," the
"Antarctica" of Balch, and Carl Fricker's "The Antarctic Regions," as
well as Hugh Robert Mills' "Siege of the South Pole."

The members of the expedition used to borrow these books, one at a time,
and I think that before the winter was over they all knew pretty well
what had been done by other men in this field.

Every week or ten days throughout the winter we had to remove from our
cabins the ice caused by the condensation of the moist air where it came
in contact with the cold outer walls. Behind every article of furniture
near the outer wall the ice would form, and we used to chop it out from
under our bunks by the pailful.

The books were always placed far forward on the shelves, because if a
book were pushed back it would freeze solid to the wall. Then, if a
warmer day came, or a fire was built in the cabin, the ice would melt,
the water would run down and the leaves of the book would mold.

The sailors amused themselves after the manner of sailors everywhere,
playing dominoes, cards and checkers, boxing and telling stories. They
used to play at feats of strength, such as finger-pulling, with the
Eskimos. One of the men had an accordion, another a banjo, and as I sat
wo