a pair of ordinary spectacles with yellow glasses of quite a light tint.  These are prepared by a chemical process in such a way that they nullify the harmful colours in the sun’s rays.  How excellent these glasses are appears clearly enough from the fact that I never had the slightest touch of snow-blindness on the southern journey, although the spectacles were perfectly open and allowed the light to enter freely everywhere.  It will perhaps be suggested that I am less susceptible to this ailment than others, but I know from personal experience that such is not the case.  I have previously had several severe attacks of snow-blindness.

We had two photographic cameras, an air thermometer, two aneroids with altitude scale to 15,000 feet, and two hypsometers.  The hypsometer is only an instrument for determining the boiling-point, which gives one the height above the sea.  The method is both simple and reliable.

The medical stores for sledging were given by a London firm, and the way in which the things were packed speaks for the whole outfit.  There is not a speck of rust on needles, scissors, knives, or anything else, although they have been exposed to much damp.  Our own medical outfit, which was bought in Christiania, and according to the vendor’s statement unusually well packed, became in a short time so damaged that the whole of it is now entirely spoilt.

The sledging provisions must be mentioned briefly.  I have already spoken of the pemmican.  I have never considered it necessary to take a whole grocer’s shop with me when sledging; the food should be simple and nourishing, and that is enough —­ a rich and varied menu is for people who have no work to do.  Besides the pemmican, we had biscuits, milk-powder, and chocolate.  The biscuits were a present from a well-known Norwegian factory, and did all honour to their origin.  They were specially baked for us, and were made of oatmeal with the addition of dried milk and a little sugar; they were extremely nourishing and pleasant to the taste.  Thanks to efficient packing, they kept fresh and crisp all the time.  These biscuits formed a great part of our daily diet, and undoubtedly contributed in no small degree to the successful result.  Milk-powder is a comparatively new commodity with us, but it deserves to be better known.  It came from the district of Jaederen.  Neither heat nor cold, dryness nor wet, could hurt it; we had large quantities of it lying out in small, thin linen bags in every possible state of the weather:  the powder was as good the last day as the first.  We also took dried milk from a firm in Wisconsin; this milk had an addition of malt and sugar, and was, in my opinion, excellent; it also kept good the whole time.  The chocolate came from a world-renowned firm, and was beyond all praise.  The whole supply was a very acceptable gift.

We are bringing all the purveyors of our sledging provisions samples of their goods that have made the journey to the South Pole and back, in gratitude for the kind assistance they afforded us.