IN WINTER QUARTERS. 295 



All the sledge-runners required new plates, for the German- 

 silver had not been laid on closely enough. In regard to the 

 construction itself, I was well satisfied with the sledges we had 

 brought with us ; but the maker of them had permitted himself 

 the use of materials here and there which were not so good as they 

 might have been, and these parts had accordingly to be taken out 

 and replaced by new ones. 



Judging by the results I had obtained with the double tent 

 we had been using it all the autumn I thought it would be well 

 worth our while to take an inner tent with us at the cold time of 

 the year. In this way we might hope to avoid a great deal of 

 moisture, both of the bags and of one's clothing, and there would be 

 no increase in the weight of the baggage after we had been out a 

 few days. 



Baumann had, therefore, large orders for tent linings, in 

 addition to a couple of complete two-man travelling tents. These 

 small tents I used were six feet long by five wide, and five feet 

 under the highest part of the roof, outside measurement. The 

 lower part of the walls was vertical for a couple of feet in 

 height. The inner tent was four feet high under the ridge of the 

 roof. It will be seen that there was no unnecessary space in our 

 tents ; there was just room for two men and the cooking-pot, 

 together with provisions for three or four days, and cooking ice for 

 the day. 



It will probably be thought that we could not possibly be 

 comfortable in such a small tent, but this is quite a mistake, for 

 we all agreed that they were the most convenient kind of tent to 

 travel in. In the first place, they were much warmer than the 

 four-man tents, and, secondly, they were easier to keep tidy, and 

 this saves time when camping in the evening and getting off in the 

 morning. 



When we arrived at our camping-ground for the evening, we 

 used to feed the dogs, and then one man only would enter the 

 tent ; to him were handed the bags which he spread out on the 

 floor, and then the rest of the things were given him in one by one, 

 and immediately put in their proper places. When everything 

 was arranged the other man went in, and the ' Primus ' was lighted. 



