ng out; it also made the crew pass more gradually
from one temperature to another. They left their snow-covered
garments in these antechambers, and scraped their feet on scrapers
put there on purpose to prevent any unhealthy element getting in.

Canvas hose let in the air necessary to make the stoves draw; other
hose served for escape-pipes for the steam. Two condensers were fixed
in the two rooms; they gathered the vapour instead of letting it escape,
and were emptied twice a week; sometimes they contained several
bushels of ice. By means of the air-pipes the fires could be easily
regulated, and it was found that very little fuel was necessary to
keep up a temperature of 50 degrees in the rooms. But Hatteras saw
with grief that he had only enough coal left for two months' firing.
A drying-room was prepared for the garments that were obliged to be
washed, as they could not be hung in the air or they would have been
frozen and spoiled. The delicate parts of the machine were taken to
pieces carefully, and the room where they were placed was closed up
hermetically. The rules for life on board were drawn up by Hatteras
and hung up in the common room. The men got up at six in the morning,
and their hammocks were exposed to the air three times a week; the
floors of the two rooms were rubbed with warm sand every morning;
boiling tea was served out at every meal, and the food varied as much
as possible, according to the different days of the week; it consisted
of bread, flour, beef suet and raisins for puddings, sugar, cocoa,
tea, rice, lemon-juice, preserved meat, salted beef and pork, pickled
cabbage and other vegetables; the kitchen was outside the common rooms,
and the men were thus deprived of its heat, but cooking is a constant
source of evaporation and humidity.

The health of men depends a great deal on the food they eat; under
these high latitudes it is of great importance to consume as much
animal food as possible. The doctor presided at the drawing up of
the bill of fare.

"We must take example from the Esquimaux," said he; "they have
received their lessons from nature, and are our teachers here;
although Arabians and Africans can live on a few dates and a handful
of rice, it is very different here, where we must eat a great deal
and often. The Esquimaux absorb as much as ten and fifteen pounds
of oil in a day. If you do not like oil, you must have recourse to
things rich in sugar and fat. In a word, you want carb