250 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [June 



the lessons by Koettlitz, and Royds plays the harmonium. 

 As he plays it extremely well, the responses are chanted and 

 the three hymns are so heartily sung that I have no doubt 

 they could be heard far over the floe. Service over, all stand 

 off for the day, and look forward to the feast of " mutton," 

 which is also limited to Sunday ; by using it thus sparingly the 

 handsome gift of the New Zealand farmers should last us till 

 the early spring. But it is little use to think of the sad day 

 when it will fail ; for the present I must confess that we always 

 take an extra walk to make quite sure of our appetites on 

 Sunday.' 



^ June 15. — ... It would be idle to say that we live in 

 complete comfort below ; perhaps it is as well that there 

 should be difficulties to overcome. We have several weak 

 places as regards damp and cold ; the mess-deck is the best 

 part of the ship ; except for a little damp on the side there is 

 not much to complain of; but the wardroom in general, and 

 the after cabins in particular, are not so happily situated. We 

 can now see that our insulation scheme is very imperfect. 

 The upper deck is lined with asbestos, and is satisfactory ; but 

 the ship's side is not lined, and wherever the bolts come 

 through the region inside is covered with a hard, spiky mass 

 of ice. This ice accumulates in time, especially in the region 

 of the bunks, and lately several people have had literally to 

 chip out their mattresses, which were solidly frozen to the 

 ship's side. At the after-end of my cabin there is an iron 

 bulkhead ; it is lined with asbestos, but I imagine the latter 

 must have slipped down, as the whole bulkhead inside is a 

 solid mass of ice. Another very stupid arrangement is the 

 plan of the small cabin deck-lights ; these are made in a single 

 metal casting, with double glasses ; of course the metal forms 

 a free conductor between the outside and in, and the fitting is 

 consequently a natural ice-trap. 



' But the worst feature of the wardroom is the deck below 

 it, which has no lining, and out of which the caulking has 

 fallen into the bunker. Except for the linoleum on top there 

 is little in this floor to protect us from the temperature of the 



