CHANGES IN OUTFIT 251 



We got everything ready, and made some improve- 

 ments in our outfit for a last depot journey before the 

 winter set in. This time the destination was 80 S., 

 with about a ton and a quarter of fresh seal meat. How 

 immensely important it would be on the main journey 

 if we could give our dogs as much seal meat as they 

 could eat at 80 S. ; we all sawthe importance of this, and 

 were eager to carry it out. We set to work once more 

 at the outfit; the last trip had taught us much that was 

 new. Thus Prestrud and Johansen had come to the 

 conclusion that a double sleeping-bag was preferable to 

 two single ones. I will not enter upon the discussion 

 that naturally arose on this point. The double bag has 

 many advantages, and so has the single bag ; let it there- 

 fore remain a matter of taste. Those two were, how- 

 ever, the only ones who made this alteration. Hanssen 

 and Wisting w r ere busy carrying out the new idea for 

 the tents, and it was not long before they had finished. 

 These tents are as much like a snow hut in form as they 

 can be; instead of being entirely round, they have a 

 more oblong form, but there is no flat side, and the 

 wind has no point of attack. Our personal outfit also 

 underwent some improvements. 



The Bay of Whales the inner part of it, from Man's 

 Head to West Cape was now entirely frozen over, but 

 outside the sea lay immense and dark. Our house was 

 now completely covered with snow. Most of this was 

 Lindstrom's work; the blizzard had not helped him 



