70 PLAN AND PREPARATIONS 



plays in social gatherings on such a voyage. Two men 

 who have fallen out a little in the course of the week are 

 reconciled at once by the scent of rum; the past is 

 forgotten, and they start afresh in friendly co-operation. 

 Take alcohol away from these little festivities, and you 

 will soon see the difference. It is a sad thing, someone 

 will say, that men absolutely must have alcohol to put 

 them in a good humour and I am quite ready to agree. 

 But seeing that our nature is what it is, we must try to 

 make the best of it. It seems as though we civilized 

 human beings must have stimulating drinks, and that 

 being so, we have to follow our own convictions. I am 

 for a glass of toddy. Let who will eat plum-cake and 

 swill hot coffee heartburn and other troubles are often 

 the result of this kind of refreshment. A little toddy 

 doesn't hurt anybody. 



The consumption of alcohol on the Fram's third 

 voyage was as follows: One dram and fifteen drops at 

 dinner on Wednesdays and Sundays, and a glass of 

 toddy on Saturday evenings. On holidays there was an 

 additional allowance. 



We were all well supplied with tobacco and cigars 

 from various firms at home and abroad. We had 

 enough cigars to allow us one each on Saturday evenings 

 and after dinner on Sundays. 



Two Christiania manufacturers sent us their finest 

 bonbons and drops, and a foreign firm gave us " Gala 

 Peter," so that it was no rare thing to see the Polar 



