Survey of Northeast Greenland. 99 
as we were not in possession of a voltmeter and an ampéremeter. 
This was indeed unfortunate, as a test of the cells would surely in’ 
most cases have shown that the disturbance was due to the bulb 
holder. Not until our second winter did we discover that the bulb 
holders were of such defective construction that the connection might 
easily become incomplete or fail altogether. Furthermore it turned 
out that rime often gathered on the contact surfaces of the switches, 
partly owing to the heat of the hand and partly to the air exhaled. 
The rime might act so powerfully as an insulating agent that the 
lamps became unfit for use, but when once our attention had been 
called to the rime, it was of course easy enough to guard ourselves 
against this inconvenience. 
All our spare cells were during both winters kept stored in a 
shed, where they were exposed to a temperature as low as + 40° 
(Centigrade). They were now and then tested by means of an in- 
candescent lamp, and they constantly proved to be undamaged'). I 
therefore do not doubt that the continued and frequent accidents 
which happened to our electric light must in the first place be 
attributed to ‘the fact that we lacked the necessary practical know- 
ledge. With a thorough practical insight as regards the lighting 
apparatus and its treatment we might easily have avoided most of 
the difficulties which we now never learned to surmount entirely. 
To light up the Observatory in case ot emergency we carried 
two ordinary kitchen lamps with reflectors. It is not advisable to 
use lamps of this kind in the Observatory, but one can make a 
couple of small windows there and place the lamps in little projections 
outside the window-panes. From the inside of the Observatory one 
must be able to keep out the light by means ofa shutter or a heavy 
curtain. These emergency arrangements for lighting up the Observatory 
were never used. 
During the latter half of August 1906 we decided to winter in 
Danmarks Havn (Harbour). The plan which had been arranged was 
to spend the autumn in getting an insight into the conditions, so 
that at the coming of spring we might begin to work according to 
a definite programme, but at the same time certain fundamental 
works had to he undertaken at once. In my own case the principal 
thing was to carry out a rough triangulation of the immediate sur- 
roundings of Danmarks Havn. In the course of the winter the 
1) For the electric sparking of the motor car of the expedition we also used 
Hellesen’s dry cells. Here they acted satisfactorily both summer and winter. 
