X.] 



FIRING WITH OIL ABANDONED. 



385 



purpose in every respect. It had but one defect, the tempera- 

 ture was always at an uncomfortably low point. As no iron 

 could be used in the building, and we had no copper-stove with 

 us, we could not have any fireplace there. We endeavoured, 

 indeed, to use a copper fireplace, that had been intended for 

 sledge journeys, for heating, but only with the result that the 

 observatory was like to have gone to pieces. We succeeded 

 little better when we discovered farther on in the winter, while 

 trimming the hold, a forgotten cask of bear's oil. We con- 

 sidered this find a clear indication that instead of a stove fired 

 with wood we should, according to the custom of the Polar 

 races, use oil-lamps to mitigate the severe cold which deprived 



THE OBSERVATORY AT PITLEKAJ. 



(After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 



our stay in Tintinyaranga of part of its pleasure. Bvit this mode 

 of firing proved altogether impracticable. The fumes of the 

 oil smelled worse than those of the charcoal, and the result of 

 this experiment was none other than that the splendid crystals 

 of ice, with which the roof and walls of the ice-house were 

 gradually clothed, were covered with black soot. Firing with 

 oil was abandoned, and the oil presented to our friends at 

 Yinretlen, who just then were complaining loudly that they 

 had no other fuel than wood. 



Besides the nine scientific men and ofiicers of the Vega, the 



C G 



