Survey of Northeast Greenland. 89 
erection of the house in Greenland an easy matter. As the single 
parts were so small that they could be comfortably stowed in the 
expedition ship, they vere not damaged during the voyage or during 
the unloading in Greenland.') 
The hatch door in the roof turned out to be impracticable. It 
was too difficult to take it off and put it on, when the instrument 
was placed on the pillar; it happened several times during a snow- 
storm that the iron hooks straightened out, and the hatch door was 
carried away up to a hundred 
metres; once it fell down and 
damaged the instrument. On 
the other hand this hatch door 
turned out to ‘be quite super- 
fluous, because the Observa- 
tory during a storm was always 
more or less filled with snow, 
whether the hatch door was 
fastened or not, but this in- 
convenience meant nothing 
more than an hour's shovel- 
ling after each storm. 
During the early part of 
September 1906 the granite 
pillar for the Observatory was 
taken ashore. The pillar was 
prismatic, placed on a base, 
0.35 m square; the length of 
the pillar was 1.3 m, its weight 
about 450 kg. It was cast into 
a square cement plinth, which 
by means of a slight excava- 
Fig. 2. The Observatory after a snowstorm. 
à The trapdoor in the roof, the trapdoors facing 
tion was made to rest on the south and east as well as the southeasterly 
solid rock. The side of this corner piece have been removed. 
plinth was 1.3m, and it was 
about 0.3 m thick. For the plinth we used about a barrel and а 
half of cement, and the sand for same was made by screening rubble 
on the spot itself. 
On the surface of the pillar there were four holes, the three of 
1) As regards the dwelling house, the “Villa”, the opposite was the case. The 
large panels of which the latter consisted warped and were so damaged during 
the voyage that when we arrived in Greenland they had to be split up into 
separate boards and planks and then put together once more, before the house 
could be erected. 
