Jl'£ PREPARE FOR THE SLEDGE EXPEDITION 15 



and with the cooking apparatus. On December 7th I 

 write : " I pitched the silk tent we are going to take, and 

 used our cooking apparatus in it. From repeated trials 

 it appeared that from ice of — ss'' C. ( — 31° Fahr.), we 

 boiled 3 litres of water (51 pints), and at the same time 

 melted 5 litres (Sf pints) in an hour and a half, with a 

 consumption of about 120 grammes of snowflake petro- 

 leum. Next day we boiled 2\ litres of water (over 4 

 pints), and melted 22 litres in one hour with 100 grammes 

 of snowflake petroleum. Yesterday we made about two 

 litres of excellent oatmeal porridge, and at the same time 

 got some half-melted ice and a little water in little over half 

 an hour, with 50 grammes of snowflake petroleum. Tlius 

 there will be no very great consumption of fuel in the day." 



Then I made all kinds of calculations and computa- 

 tions in order to find out what would be the most advan- 

 tageous kind of provisions for our expedition, where it 

 was of the orreatest moment that the food both for does 

 and men should be nutritious, and yet should not weigh 

 more than was absolutely necessary. Later on, in the 

 list of our equipments, I shall give the final result of my 

 deliberations on this matter. Besides all this, we had, of 

 course, to consider and test the instruments to be taken 

 with us, and to go into many other matters, which, though 

 perhaps trifles in themselves, were yet absolutely neces- 

 sary. It is on the felicitous combination of all these 

 trifles that ultimate success depends. 



We two passed the greater portion of our time in 



