SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 547 



Nivlheim, where terrified fancy has pictured all possible 

 horrors. Yet we are living a life of luxury and plenty, 

 surrounded by all the comforts of civilization. I think 

 we shall be better off this winter than last. 



" The firing apparatus in the galley is working splen- 

 didly, and the cook himself is now of opinion that it is an 

 invention which approaches perfection. So we shall burn 

 nothing but coal-oil there now ; it warms the place well, 

 and a good deal of the heat comes up here into the work- 

 room, where I sometimes sit and perspire until I have to 

 take off one garment after another, although the window 

 is open, and there are 30 odd degrees of cold outside. I 

 have calculated that the petroleum which this enables us 

 to keep for lighting purposes only will last at least 10 

 years, though we burn it freely 300 days in the year. At 

 present we are not using petroleum lamps at the rate 

 assumed in my calculation, because we frequently have 

 electric light; and then even here summer comes once a 

 year, or, at any rate, something which we must call sum- 

 mer. Even allowing for accidents, such as the possibility 

 of a tank springing a leak and the oil running out, there 

 is still no reason whatever for being sparing of light, and 

 every man can have as much as he wants. What this 

 means can best be appreciated by one who for a whole 

 year has felt the stings of conscience every time he went 

 to work or read alone in his cabin, and burned a lamp 

 that was not absolutely necessary, because he could have 

 used the general one in the saloon. 



