THE "AURORA AUSTRALIS" 



in the Antarctic. Through the generosity of Messrs. 

 Joseph Causton and Sons, Limited, we had been pro- 

 vided with a complete printing outfit and the necessary 

 paper for the book, and Joyce and Wild had been 

 given instruction in the art of type-setting and printing, 

 Marston being taught etching and lithography. They 

 had hardly become skilled craftsmen, but they had 

 gained a good working knowledge of the branches of 

 the business. When we had settled down in the winter 

 quarters, Joyce and Wild set up the little hand-press 

 and sorted out the type, these preliminary operations 

 taking up all their spare time for some days, and then 

 they started to set and print the various contributions 

 that were sent in by members of the expedition. The 

 early days of the printing department were not exactly 

 happy, for the two amateur type-setters found them- 

 selves making many mistakes, and when they had at 

 last 4 ' set up " a page, made all the necessary corrections, 

 and printed off the necessary required number of 

 copies, they had to undertake the laborious work of 

 " dissing," that is, of distributing the type again. 

 They plodded ahead steadily, however, and soon became 

 more skilful, until at the end of a fortnight or three 

 weeks they could print two pages in a day. A lamp 

 had to be placed under the type-rack to keep it warm, 

 and a lighted candle was put under the inking-plate, 

 so that the ink would keep reasonably thin in con- 

 sistency. The great trouble experienced by the printers 

 at first was in securing the right pressure on the 

 printing-plate and even inking of the page, but experi- 

 ence showed them where they had been at fault. Day 

 meanwhile prepared the binding by cleaning, planing, 

 and polishing wood taken from the Venesta cases in 

 which our provisions were packed. Marston reproduced 



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