332 THE VOYAGE OF THE " FRAM " 



Properly speaking, we ought to have been in the 

 west wind belt as soon as we came out, and the drift 

 of the clouds and movement of the barograph were 

 examined at least twenty-four times a day, but it still 

 remained calm. At last, after the lapse of several days, 

 we had a little fresh south-westerly wind with hail 

 showers, and then, of course, I thought we had made 

 a beginning; but unfortunately it only lasted a night, 

 so that our joy was short-lived. 



We took with us from Buenos Aires fifteen live 

 sheep and fifteen live little pigs, for wliich two houses 

 were built on the after-deck; as, however, one of the 

 pigs was found dead on the morning after the south- 

 westerly breeze just mentioned, I assumed that this 

 was on account of the cold, and another house was at 

 once built for them between decks (in the work-room), 

 where it was very warm. They were down here the 

 whole time; but as their house was cleaned out twice 

 a day and dry straw put on the floor, they did not 

 cause us much inconvenience; besides which, their 

 house was raised more than half a foot above the deck 

 itself, so that the space below could always be kept 

 clean. The pigs thrived so well down here that we 

 could almost see them growing; on arrival at the 

 Barrier we had no fewer than nine alive. 



The sheep had a weather-tight house with a tarpaulin 

 over the roof, and they grew fatter and fatter; we had 

 every opportunity of noticing this, as we killed one of 



