The days were now fairly short, and we were ready to take up our indoor work.  The winter duties were assigned as follows:  Prestrud, scientific observations; Johansen, packing of sledging provisions; Hassel had to keep Lindstrom supplied with coal, wood, and paraffin, and to make whip-lashes —­ an occupation he was very familiar with from the Fram’s second expedition; Stubberud was to reduce the weight of the sledge cases to a minimum, besides doing a lot of other things.  There was nothing he could not turn his hand to, so the programme of his winter work was left rather vague.  I knew he would manage a great deal more than the sledge cases, though it must be said that it was a tiresome job he had.  Bjaaland was allotted the task which we all regarded with intense interest —­ the alteration of the sledges.  We knew that an enormous amount of weight could be saved, but how much?  Hanssen and Wisting had to lash together the different parts as they were finished; this was to be done in the Clothing Store.  These two had also a number of other things on their programme for the winter.

There are many who think that a Polar expedition is synonymous with idleness.  I wish I had had a few adherents of this belief at Framheim that winter; they would have gone away with a different opinion.  Not that the hours of work were excessively long, the circumstances forbade that.  But during those hours the work was brisk.

On several previous sledge journeys I had made the experience that thermometers are very fragile things.  It often happens that at the beginning of a journey one breaks all one’s thermometers, and is left without any means of determining the temperature.  If in such circumstances one had accustomed oneself to guess the temperature, it would have given the mean temperature for the month with a fair degree of accuracy.  The guesses for single days might vary somewhat from reality on one side or the other, but, as I say, one would arrive at a fair estimate of the mean temperature.  With this in my mind I started a guessing competition.  As each man came in in the morning he gave his opinion of the temperature of the day, and this was entered in a book.  At the end of the month the figures were gone through, and the one who had guessed correctly the greatest number of times won the prize —­ a few cigars.  Besides giving practice in guessing the temperature, it was a very good diversion to begin the day with.  When one day is almost exactly like another, as it was with us, the first hour of the morning is often apt to be a little sour, especially before one has had one’s cup of coffee.  I may say at once that this morning grumpiness very seldom showed itself with us.  But one never knows —­ one cannot always be sure.  The most amiable man may often give one a surprise before the coffee has had its effect.  In this respect the guessing was an excellent thing; it took up everyone’s attention, and diverted the critical moments.  Each man’s entrance was awaited with excitement, and one man was not allowed to make his guess in the hearing of the next —­ that would undoubtedly have exercised an influence.  Therefore they had to speak as they came in, one by one.