now.  But I think Sherlock Holmes would have found it a hard-nut to crack if he had been set down blindfold on the Antarctic Barrier, as I was, so to speak, and asked to explain the situation.  It was one of those folding American vapour-baths that Hassel sat in.  The bathroom, which had looked so spacious and elegant in the fog, reduced itself to a little snow-hut of insignificant appearance.  The steam was now collected in the bath, and one could see by the face above that it was beginning to be warm there.  The last thing I saw Bjaaland do was to pump two Primus lamps that were placed just under the bath up to high pressure, and then disappear.  What a lesson an actor might have had in watching the face before me!  It began with such a pleasant expression —­ well-being was written upon it in the brightest characters —­ then by degrees the smile wore off, and gave place to seriousness.  But this did not last long; there was a trembling of the nostrils, and very soon it could clearly be seen that the bath was no longer of a pleasant nature.  The complexion, from being normal, had changed to an ultra-violet tint; the eyes opened wider and wider, and I was anxiously awaiting a catastrophe.

It came, but in a very different form from that I had expected.  Suddenly and noiselessly the bath was raised, and the steam poured out, laying a soft white curtain over what followed.  I could see nothing; only heard that the two Primuses were turned down.  I think it took about five minutes for the steam to disappear, and what did I see then? —­ Hassel, bright as a new shilling, dressed in his best for St. Hans’ Eve.  I availed myself of the opportunity to examine the first, and probably the only, vapour-bath on the Antarctic Barrier.  It was, like everything else I had seen, very ingeniously contrived.  The bath was a high box without bottom, and with a hole, large enough for the head, in the top.  Ail the walls were double and were made of windproof material, with about an inch between for the air to circulate.  This box stood on a platform, which was raised a couple of feet above the snow surface.  The box fitted into a groove, and was thus absolutely tight.  In the platform immediately under the bath a rectangular opening was cut, lined round with rubber packing, and into this opening a tin box fitted accurately.  Under the tin box stood two Primus lamps, and now everyone will be able to understand why Hassel felt warm.  A block hung from the top of the hut, with a rope reeved in it; one end was made fast to the upper edge of the bath, and the other went down into the bath.  In this way the bather himself could raise the bath without assistance, and free himself when the heat became too great.  The temperature outside the snow-wall was -65deg.  F. Cunning lads!  I afterwards heard that Bjaaland and Hassel had constructed this ingenious bath.