ARRANGING INTERIOR OF HUT 



shelves, tanks, &c, and the result was as good as any 

 one could desire in the circumstances. 



On the other side of the doorway, opposite the dark- 

 room, was my room, six feet long, seven feet deep, built 

 of boards and roofed, the roof being seven feet above 

 the floor. I lined the walls inside with canvas, and the 

 bed-place was constructed of fruit boxes, which, when 

 emptied, served, like those outside, for lockers. My 

 room contained the bulk of our library, the chronometers, 

 the chronometer watches, barograph, and the electric- 

 recording thermometer; there was ample room for a 

 table, and the whole made a most comfortable cabin. 

 On the roof we stowed those of our scientific instruments 

 which were not in use, such as theodolites, spare ther- 

 mometers, dip circles, &c. The gradual accumulation of 

 weight produced a distinct sag in the roof, which some- 

 times seemed to threaten collapse as I sat inside, but no 

 notice was taken, and nothing happened. On the roof 

 of the dark-room we stowed all our photographic gear 

 and our few cases of wine, which were only drawn upon on 

 special occasions, such as Mid-winter Day. The acety- 

 lene gas-plant was set up on a platform between my room 

 and the dark-room. We had tried to work it from the 

 porch, but the temperature was so low there that the 

 water froze and the gas would not come, so we shifted 

 it inside the hut, and had no further trouble. Four 

 burners, including a portable standard light in my room, 

 gave ample illumination. The simplicity and porta- 

 bility of the apparatus and the high efficiency of the light 

 represented the height of luxury under polar conditions 

 and did much to render our sojourn more tolerable than 

 would have been possible in earlier days. The particular 

 form that we used was supplied by Mr. Morrison, who 

 had been chief engineer on the Morning on her voyage to 

 the relief of the Discovery. The only objectionable 



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