We had
brought with us ten large tents in which sixteen men could easily find
room. They were set up on the Ice Barrier; the snow was then dug out to
a depth of six and a half feet inside the tents, so that each dog hut
was nearly twenty feet high. The diameter of a dog hut on the ground
was sixteen feet. We made these huts spacious so that they might be as
airy as possible, and thus avert the frost which is so injurious to
dogs. Our purpose was entirely attained, for even in the severest
weather no dogs were frozen. The tents were always warm and
comfortable. Twelve dogs were housed in each, and every man had to take
care of his own pack.

After we had seen to the wants of the dogs we could then think of
ourselves. As early as April the house was entirely covered by snow. In
this newly drifted snow, passageways were dug connecting directly with
the dog huts. Ample room was thus at our disposal without the need on
our part of furnishing building material. We had workshops, a
blacksmith shop, a room for sewing, one for packing, a storage room for
coal, wood, and oil, a room for regular baths and one for steam baths.
The winter might be as cold and stormy as it would; it could do us no
harm.

On April 21st the sun disappeared and the longest night began which had
ever been experienced by man in the Antarctic. We did not need to fear
the long night, for we were well equipped with provisions for years and
had a comfortable, well-ventilated, well-situated and protected house.
In addition we had our splendid bathroom where we could take a bath
every week. It really was a veritable sanatorium.

After these arrangements had been completed we began preparations for
the main advance in the following spring. We had to improve our
equipment and make it lighter. We discarded all our sleds, for they
were too heavy and unwieldy for the smooth surface of the Ice Barrier.
Our sleds weighed 165 pounds each. Bjaaland, our ski and sledmaker,
took the sleds in hand, and when spring arrived he had entirely made
over our sledge equipment. These sleds weighed only one-third as much
as the old ones. In the same way it was possible to reduce the weight
of all other items of our equipment. Packing the provisions for the
sledge journey was of the greatest importance. Captain Johansen
attended to this work during the winter. Each of the 42,000 loaves of
hard bread had to be handled separately before it could be assigned to
its proper place. In