We had a number of scientific instruments with us.  Professors Nansen and Helland-Hansen had devoted many an hour to our oceanographical equipment, which was therefore a model of what such an equipment should be.  Lieutenants Prestrud and Gjertsen had both gone through the necessary course in oceanography under Helland-Hansen at the Bergen biological station.  I myself had spent a summer there, and taken part in one of the oceanographical courses.  Professor Helland-Hansen was a brilliant teacher; I am afraid I cannot assert that I was an equally brilliant pupil.

Professor Mohn had given us a complete meteorological outfit.  Among the instruments belonging to the Fram I may mention a pendulum apparatus, an excellent astronomical theodolite, and a sextant.  Lieutenant Prestrud studied the use of the pendulum apparatus under Professor Schiotz and the use of the astronomical theodolite under Professor Geelmuyden.  We had in addition several sextants and artificial horizons, both glass and mercury.  We had binoculars of all sizes, from the largest to the smallest.

So far I have been dealing with our general outfit, and shall now pass to the special equipment of the shore party.  The hut we took out was built on my property on Bundefjord, so that I was able to watch the work as it progressed.  It was built by the brothers Hans and Jorgen Stubberud, and was throughout a splendid piece of work, which did honour to both the brothers.  The materials proved excellent in every way.  The hut was 26 feet long by 13 feet wide; its height from the floor to the ridge of the roof was about 12 feet.  It was built as an ordinary Norwegian house, with pointed gable, and had two rooms.  One of these was 19 1/2 feet long, and was to serve as our dormitory, dining-room, and sitting-room; the other room was 6 1/2 feet long, and was to be Lindstrom’s kitchen.  From the kitchen a double trap-door led to the loft, where we intended to keep a quantity of provisions and outfit.  The walls consisted of 3-inch planks, with air space between; panels outside and inside, with air space between them and the plank walling.  For insulation we used cellulose pulp.  The floor and the ceiling between the rooms and the loft were double, while the upper roof was single.  The doors were extraordinarily thick and strong, and fitted into oblique grooves, so that they closed very tightly.  There were two windows —­ a triple one in the end wall of the main room, and a double one in the kitchen.  For the covering of the roof we took out roofing-paper, and for the floor linoleum.  In the main room there were two air-pipes, one to admit fresh air, the other for the exhaust.  There were bunks for ten men in two stages, six on one wall and four on the other.  The furniture of the room consisted of a table, a stool for each man, and a Lux lamp.