OUR LIFE ON BOARD. 79 



there was nothing left of him but the tip of his tail ! This is 

 nothing but the simple truth ; it is impossible to imagine any 

 animal, on the whole, more aggressive and enduring than the 

 Eskimo dog. It is my belief that a team of these dogs that is to 

 say, eight or ten animals could do for a polar bear. Their 

 qualities as draught animals, I have already spoken of, while their 

 staying power is something marvellous. When to this is added 

 their great intelligence and affection for their master, it will easily 

 be understood how important a factor they are in modern polar 

 exploration. 



Towards the middle of November we completed all the 

 necessary outside work, and then turned our attention to the 

 vessel and the forge which Nodtvedt had built of blocks of snow 

 a short distance away on the ice. Here he occupied himself 

 with blacksmith's work all the winter; made knives, hatchets, 

 bores, and crowbars, and did all the repairs of the ship which 

 came within his scope. 



In addition to our usual daily avocations, such as cleaning, 

 looking after the dogs, taking meteorological and tidal observations, 

 and the like, we now set to work on preparations for the sledge- 

 journey which I had planned round the northern point of Green- 

 land. There were tents to be made, and sledges to be mended, 

 strengthened, or provided with over- runners ; * the winter hut, 

 with its ' furniture,' and shed for provisions, had to be built and 

 put up, single kayaks altered into double ones, food prepared 

 for the dogs, a forge with its appurtenances made, all the pro- 

 visions required for the journey weighed and packed in short, 

 there were innumerable things to be done, and no time to be 

 lost. The ' Fram ' was simply transformed into a large workshop, 

 where every kind of handicraft and industry was carried on. 

 Baumann was the tentmaker, the mate the seamster of the 

 kayaks, Olsen the wheelwright, tinsmith and instrument- 

 maker, Nodtvedt the blacksmith, Braskerud general handy-man 

 in the timber-carpenter-watchmaker line, while Isachsen and Bay 



* Wooden over-runners, which can be fixed at will over the metal runners, as 

 often the snow is in such a condition that wood glides over it more easily than 

 metal. 



