to King Haakon and Queen Maud for the photographs they presented to us; they were the most precious of our gifts.  The ladies of Horten gave us a number of pretty things for decorating the cabins, and they will no doubt be glad to hear of the admiration they aroused wherever we went.  “Is this really a Polar ship?” people asked; “we expected to see nothing but wooden benches and bare walls.”  And they began to talk about “boudoirs” and things of that sort.  Besides splendid embroideries, our walls were decorated with the most wonderful photographs; it would have rejoiced the giver of these to hear all the words of praise that have been bestowed upon them.

The sleeping quarters I left to individual taste:  every man could take a bit of his home in his own little compartment.  The bedclothes came from the naval factory at Horten; they were first-class work, like everything else that came from there.  We owe our best thanks to the giver of the soft blankets that have so often been our joy and put warmth into us after a bitter day; they came from a woollen mill at Trondhjem.

I must also mention our paper-supply, which was in all respects as fine and elegant as it could possibly be:  the most exquisite notepaper, stamped with a picture of the Fram and the name of the expedition, in large and small size, broad and narrow, old style and new style —­ every kind of notepaper, in fact.  Of pens and penholders, pencils, black and coloured, india-rubber, Indian ink, drawing-pins and other kinds of pins, ink and ink-powder, white chalk and red chalk, gum arabic and other gums, date-holders and almanacs, ship’s logs and private diaries, notebooks and sledging diaries, and many other things of the same sort, we have such a stock that we shall be able to circumnavigate the earth several times more before running short.  This gift does honour to the firm which sent it; every time I have sent a letter or written in my diary, I have had a grateful thought for the givers.

From one of the largest houses in Christiania we had a complete set of kitchen utensils and breakfast and dinner services, all of the best kind.  The cups, plates, knives, forks, spoons, jugs, glasses, etc., were all marked with the ship’s name.

We carried an extraordinarily copious library; presents of books were showered upon us in great quantities.  I suppose the Fram’s library at the present moment contains at least 3,000 volumes.

For our entertainment we also had a good many different games.  One of these became our favourite pastime in leisure evenings down in the South.  Packs of cards we had by the dozen, and many of them have already been well used.  A gramophone with a large supply of records was, I think, our best friend.  Of musical instruments we had a piano, a violin, a flute, mandolins, not forgetting a mouth-organ and an accordion.  All the publishers had been kind enough to send us music, so that we could cultivate this art as much as we wished.