to see the most curious-looking tents when once they were brought out and set up in daylight; one might imagine that the floor of one would be sewed on to the side of another.  But nothing of the sort happened.  When the tents were brought out for the first time and set up, they proved to be perfect.  One would have thought they had been made in a big sail-loft instead of in a snow-drift.  Neat-fingered fellows like this are priceless on such an expedition as ours.

On the second Fram expedition they used double tents, and as, of course, nothing is so good and serviceable as the thing one has not got, the praises of double tents were now sung in every key.  Well, I naturally had to admit that a house with double walls is warmer than one with single walls, but, at the same time, one must not lose sight of the fact that the double-walled house is also twice as heavy; and when one has to consider the weight of a pocket-handkerchief, it will be understood that the question of the real advantages of the double-walled house had to be thoroughly considered before taking the step of committing oneself to it.  I had thought that with double walls one would possibly avoid some of the rime that is generally so troublesome in the tents, and often becomes a serious matter.  If, then, the double walls would in any way prevent or improve this condition of things, I could see the advantage of having them; for the increased weight caused by the daily deposit of rime would in a short time be equal to, if not greater than, the additional weight of the double tent.  These double tents are made so that the outer tent is fast and the inner loose.  In the course of our discussion, it appeared that the deposit of rime occurred just as quickly on a double tent as on a single one, and thus the utility of the double tent appeared to me to be rather doubtful.  If the object was merely to have it a few degrees warmer in the tent, I thought it best to sacrifice this comfort to the weight we should thereby save.  Moreover, we were so plentifully supplied with warm sleeping things that we should not have to suffer any hardship.

But another question cropped up as a result of this discussion —­ the question of what was the most useful colour for a tent.  We were soon agreed that a dark-coloured tent was best, for several reasons:  In the first place, as a relief to the eyes.  We knew well enough what a comfort it would be to come into a dark tent after travelling all day on the glistening Barrier surface.  In the next place, the dark colour would make the tent a good deal warmer when the sun was up —­ another important consideration.  One may easily prove this by walking in dark clothes in a hot sun, and afterwards changing to white ones.  And, finally, a dark tent would be far easier to see on the white surface than a light one.  When all these questions had been discussed, and the superiority of a dark tent admitted, we were doubly keen on it, since all our tents happened to be light, not to say