180 THENORTHPOLE 



included Abruzzi's "On the Polar Star in the Arctic 

 Sea," Nansen's "Farthest North," Nares' "Voyage to 

 the Polar Sea," Markham's two volumes on arctic 

 explorations, the narratives of Greely, Hall, Hayes, 

 Kane, Inglefield — in fact, all the stories of the naviga- 

 tors of the Smith Sound region, as well as those who have 

 attempted the Pole from other directions, such as the 

 Austrian expedition under Payer and Weyprecht, 

 Koldewey's East Greenland expedition, and so forth. 



Then, in antarctic literature I had Captain Scott's 

 two magnificent volumes, "The Voyage of the Dis- 

 covery" Borchgrevink's "The Southern Cross Expedi- 

 tion to the Antarctic," Nordenskjold's "Antarctica," 

 the "Antarctica" of Balch, and Carl Fricker's "The 

 Antarctic Regions," as well as Hugh Robert Mills' 

 "Siege of the South Pole." 



The members of the expedition used to borrow these 

 books, one at a time, and I think that before the winter 

 was over they all knew pretty well what had been done 

 by other men in this field. 



Every week or ten days throughout the winter we 

 had to remove from our cabins the ice caused by the 

 condensation of the moist air where it came in contact 

 with the cold outer walls. Behind every article of fur- 

 niture near the outer wall the ice would form, and we 

 used to chop it out from under our bunks by the pailful. 



The books were always placed far forward on the 

 shelves, because if a book were pushed back it would 

 freeze solid to the wall. Then, if a warmer day came, 

 or a fire was built in the cabin, the ice would melt, the 

 water would run down and the leaves of the book would 

 mold. 



