In this matter we owe a deep debt of gratitude above all to Professor Sophus Torup, who has always been the supervising authority in the matter of provisioning, this time as well as on the former occasions.

Great praise is also due to the factories that supplied our tinned goods.  By their excellent and conscientious work they deserved well of the expedition.  In this case a part of the supplies was entrusted to a Stavanger factory, which, in addition to the goods supplied to order, with great generosity placed at the disposal of the expedition provisions to the value of 2,000 kroner (L110).  The other half of the tinned foods required was ordered from a firm at Moss.  The manager of this firm undertook at the same time to prepare the necessary pemmican for men and dogs, and executed this commission in a way that I cannot sufficiently praise.  Thanks to this excellent preparation, the health both of men and dogs on the journey to the Pole was always remarkably good.  The pemmican we took was essentially different from that which former expeditions had used.  Previously the pemmican had contained nothing but the desired mixture of dried meat and lard; ours had, besides these, vegetables and oatmeal, an addition which greatly improves its flavour, and, as far as we could judge, makes it easier to digest.

This kind of pemmican was first produced for the use of the Norwegian Army; it was intended to take the place of the “emergency ration.”  The experiment was not concluded at the time the expedition left, but it may be hoped that the result has proved satisfactory.  A more stimulating, nourishing, and appetizing food, it would be impossible to find.

But besides the pemmican for ourselves, that for our dogs was equally important, for they are just as liable to be attacked by scurvy as we men.  The same care had therefore to be devoted to the preparation of their food.  We obtained from Moss two kinds of pemmican, one made with fish and the other with meat.  Both kinds contained, besides the dried fish (or meat) and lard, a certain proportion of dried milk and middlings.  Both kinds were equally excellent, and the dogs were always in splendid condition.  The pemmican was divided into rations of 1 pound 1.5 ounces, and could be served out to the dogs as it was.  But before we should be able to use this pemmican we had a five months’ voyage before us, and for this part of the expedition I had to look for a reliable supply of dried fish.  This I found through the agent of the expedition at Tromso, Mr. Fritz Zappfe.  Two well-known firms also placed large quantities of the best dried fish at my disposal.  With all this excellent fish and some barrels of lard we succeeded in bringing our dogs through in the best of condition.