628 APPENDIX 



of "casualties" there were only a few of the most trifling nature, 

 such as a frozen big toe, a little skin-chafing here and there, a 

 sore eye or two ; that was all. However, we led a very regular 

 life, with the twenty-four hours suitably distributed between work, 

 exercise, and rest. Wc slept well and fed well, and so we were 

 very little concerned at the fact that when being weighed on 

 May /th we were found to have lost flesh. However, the falling 

 off was not great ; the aggregate weight of the whole party was 

 barely 8 pounds less than the month before. 



There was, however, one complaint that we suffered from — a 

 contagious one, though not of a dangerous nature. It became a 

 fashion, or, if you like, a fashionable complaint, on board the 

 Fram, to shave one's head. It was said that an infallible method 

 of producing a more luxuriant growth of hair was to shave away 

 the little hair that still adorned the head of the patient. Juell first 

 started it, and then a regular mania set in, the others following 

 his example one by one, with the exception of myself and one 

 or two more. Like a cautious general, I first waited a while to 

 see whether the expected harvest sprouted on my comrades' 

 shaven polls ; and as the hair did not seeni to grow any stronger 

 than before, I preferred a recipe ordered by the doctor — viz., to 

 wash the head daily with soft soap and subsequently rub in an 

 ointment. To make this treatment more effectual, however, 

 and let the ointment get at the scalp, I followed the example of 

 the others and shaved my head several times. Personally I do 

 not believe that the process did any good, but Pettersen was of 

 a different opinion. " The deuce take me," said he, one day 

 afterwards when cutting my hair, " if the captain hasn't got 

 some jolly strong bristles on his crown after that treatment." 



The Seventeenth of May brought the finest weather that could 

 be imagined. A clear, bright sky, dazzling sunshine, io° to 12° 

 of cold, and an almost perfect calm. The sun, which at this time 

 of the year never sets throughout the twenty -four hours, was 

 already high in the heavens, when at 8 A.M. we were awakened 

 by the firing of a gun, and by joyous strains of the organ. 

 We jumped into our clothes more speedily than usual, swal- 

 lowed our breakfast, and with the liveliest expectation prepared 



