WORK IN THE TRADE- WINDS 133 



versation; a theme had suddenly presented itself, so 

 varied and comprehensive that it was difficult at first to 

 know where to begin. There were many men on board 

 the Fram with a wealth of experience gained during 

 years spent within the Arctic Circle, but to almost all 

 of us the great Antarctic continent was a terra incognita. 

 I myself was the only man on board who had seen 

 Antarctica; perhaps one or two of my companions 

 had in former days passed in the vicinity of an Ant- 

 arctic iceberg on a voyage round Cape Horn, but that 

 was all. 



What had previously been accomplished in the way 

 of exploration in the South, and the narratives of the 

 men who had endeavoured to extend our knowledge of 

 that inhospitable continent, were also things that very 

 few of the ship's company had had time or opportunity 

 to study, nor had they perhaps had any reason to do so. 

 Now there was every possible reason. I considered it 

 an imperative necessity that every man should acquaint 

 himself as far as possible with the work of previous ex- 

 peditions; this was the only way of becoming in some 

 measure familiar with the conditions in which we should 

 have to work. For this reason the Fram carried a 

 whole library of Antarctic literature, containing every- 

 thing that has been written by the long succession of 

 explorers in these regions, from James Cook and James 

 Clark Ross to Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton. 

 And, indeed, good use was made of this library. The 



