300 NEW LAND. 



On the starboard side we had an air-extractor constructed in 

 the same manner. The metal tube in the cabin was an inch 

 smaller than that of the ventilator, but the shaft was of the same 

 dimensions, so that it was not necessary to sweep it so often 

 to prevent it from becoming clogged with rime. To accelerate the 

 ascending current of air, we fixed to the cylinder on deck a tin 

 chimney some five or six feet in height. The whole appliance 

 was a most efficient ventilating agent, and the colder it was the 

 greater was the velocity of the entering air-current ; in the winter 

 we had always to regulate it, or it would have made things 

 altogether too wintery in the cabin. 



The outlet tube was usually swept once or twice a week, but 

 this was not a long business. After it had been swept we always 

 warmed the tube by holding the flame of a soldering-lamp up to it, 

 and in a minute or two the air was again in even circulation. 



It was something of this kind that I thought of having in the 

 after-cabin, and set Olsen to work to make a hole in the aft wall, 

 and slightly move the stove. "We made the hole in the wall of 

 plaster which ran from the floor to the highest part of the stove, 

 and inserted the tube directly into it. By so doing, I thought the 

 entering air- current would be increased, and the cold air rushing 

 directly through the wall at the floor-level would become heated 

 and rise towards the ceiling. 



The theory perhaps was good, but when put in practice it 

 certainly proved to be a failure. The tube, instead of bringing 

 cold fresh air into the room, extracted all the warm air between 

 the stove and the plaster wall, and with such violence that 

 Olsen, who is a light weight, always looked very anxious when he 

 approached the hole. We had to give up the new system as 

 quickly as possible, and construct something on the lines of the 

 ventilator in the fore-cabin, and this when complete was irreproach- 

 able. We could see the tobacco-smoke tearing down to the outlet, 

 and even if there were twelve or fourteen men puffing at their 

 pipes and smoke we could the fumes were never dense. When 

 we had finished smoking, and regulated the outlet so as to make 

 the air flow out quicker, the cabin was free of smoke almost in a 

 moment. 



