Second Autumn in the Ice. 455 



reservoir of oil a pipe leads down and in to the fireplace ; 

 the oil clrips down from the end of this pipe into an iron 

 bowl, and is here sucked up by a sheet of asbestos, or 

 by coal ashes. The flow of oil from the pipe is regulated 

 by a fine valve cock. To ensure a good draught, I bring 

 a ventilating pipe from outside right by the range door. 

 Air is pressed through this by a large wind- sail on deck, 

 and blows straight on to the iron bowl, where the oil 



O 



burns briskly with a clear, white flame. Whoever lights 

 the fire in the morning has only to go on deck and see 

 that the wind-sail is set to the wind, to open the venti- 

 lator, to turn the cock so that the oil runs properly, and 

 then set it burning with a scrap of paper. It looks after 

 itself, and the water is boiling in twenty minutes or half- 

 an-hour. - One could not have anything much easier than 

 this, it seems to me. But of course in our as in other 

 communities, it is difficult to introduce reforms ; every- 

 thing new is looked upon with suspicion." 



Somewhat later I write of the same apparatus : "We 

 are now using the galley again, with the coal-oil fire ; 

 the moving down took place the day before yesterday,"" 

 and the fire was used yesterday. It works capitally ; 

 a 3-foot wind is enough to give a splendid draught. 

 The day before yesterday, when I was sitting with some 



* During the summer we had made a kitchen of the chart-room on 

 deck, because of the good daylight there; and besides the galley 

 proper was to be cleaned and painted 



