330 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY [Sept. 



keeping the lamps in good working order, and in consequence 

 became very expert in handling them. Our confidence in them 

 grew as we came to understand them better, and in spite of 

 their defects we ultimately placed such reliance on them that 

 we never thought of taking an alternative lamp. On two 

 occasions, in fact, my party were away on very extended 

 journeys with nothing to fall back on had our lamp failed. 



As may have been gathered, the cooking and eating utensils 

 of our sledge parties were not numerous. Besides the cooker 

 and lamp, a folding pannikin of aluminium was provided for 

 each man, one-half of which could be used for his hoosh2Ci\di the 

 other for his cocoa. In addition each person had a dessert-spoon. 

 Pannikins and spoons could be conveniently stowed inside 

 the cooker for transport, and the latter then added 15 lbs. to 

 the load, beyond which an extra weight of 2^ to 3 lbs. had to 

 be allowed for the Primus lamp. 



The oil was carried in small rectangular tins, which fitted 

 close to one another on a light platform on the sledge. Some 

 of these tins had been made in England, but we had consider- 

 ably to increase our supply by others made on board the ship. 

 Each tin had a small cork bung, which was a decided weakness ; 

 paraffin creeps in the most annoying manner, and a good deal 

 of oil was wasted in this way, especially when the sledges were 

 travelling over rough ground and were shaken or, as frequently 

 happened, capsized. It was impossible to make these bungs 

 quite tight, however closely they were jammed down, so that in 

 spite of a trifling extra weight a much better fitting would have 

 been a metallic screwed bung. To find on opening a fresh tin 

 of oil that it was only three-parts full was very distressing, and 

 of course meant that the cooker had to be used with still 

 greater care. 



A full tin of oil weighed 10 lbs. and contained exactly a 

 gallon, and this quantity, as a general rule, was the allowance 

 for ten days for three persons. With care this was amply 

 sufficient, and on the southern journey when our stock was 

 somewhat short a gallon was made to last fourteen and even 

 sixteen days, but this meant very short commons. 



