lls no tales of hardships
and privations, no sickness or suffering from the isolation.

It is instead the record of a well-ordered household, in which each man
performed the duties assigned to him, duties which gave each enough
exercise to tire him out and make him long for the quiet hours of
reading or chess-playing, or games, which were to follow in the cabin
when the day's work was done.

During the entire trip Nansen and his men performed the various duties
of their lives, turn and turn about, the difference of occupation giving
the men the change necessary to keep them in health and spirits.

The journal tells of little simple festivities, with processions round
the ship, to celebrate Christmas and birthdays. Of the extra dinners
prepared for these great occasions, dinners which made the men feel a
little tight about the waist and sleepy at the grand entertainment which
always closed a holiday.

The book is full of those little simple nothings which seem hardly worth
telling to the outside world, and which are so full of meaning to those
who have lived them through.

The diary is only here and there varied with an account of a bear-hunt,
or a dog-fight, or a wily bear coming along and stealing a dog or two
for his own private consumption. It is at times hard to realize that
these men of whom the journal treats were heroes ready to sacrifice
their lives in the interest of science, and that in this peaceful,
homelike way the greatest voyage of the century was being made.

It will interest you to know that Nansen used every available modern
invention to help make his voyage successful and bearable.

In the Arctic regions there are long months when there is no day. The
sun disappears beneath the horizon, and does not appear again for weeks.
There is no day and no sunshine, only one long night.

This time is the most trying period for Arctic travellers, and many
poor fellows have gone insane under the terrible oppression of the
months of darkness.

When this time came, and the sun had bidden its good-by to the _Fram_,
Nansen lighted his ship by means of electricity, generated from power
obtained from a windmill. When the wind failed the crew manned a
capstan, an apparatus used for hauling anchors on board ship, and which
Nansen applied to this excellent use.

With light to work by, plenty of work to do, and books and games for the
evenings, one would have thought the men were well supplied, but Nansen
added