e coppers, as well as the breath
and other vapour generated in the inhabited parts of the ship,
began to condense into drops upon the beams and the sides, to such
a degree as to keep them constantly wet. In order to remove this
serious evil, a large stone oven, cased with cast iron, in which
all our bread was baked daring the winter, was placed on the main
hatchway, and the stovepipe led fore and aft on one side of the
lower deck, the smoke being thus carried up the fore hatchway. On
the opposite side of the deck an apparatus had been attached to
the galley-range for conveying a current of heated air between
decks. This apparatus simply consisted of an iron box, about fifteen
inches square, through which passed three pipes of two inches
diameter, communicating below with the external air, and uniting
above in a metal box, fixed to the side of the galley-range; to
this box a copper stovepipe was attached, and conveyed to the
middle part of the lower deck. When a fire was made under the
air-vessel, the air became heated in its passage through the three
pipes, from which it was conveyed through the stovepipe to the
men's berths. While this apparatus was in good order, a moderate
fire produced a current of air of the temperature of 87 deg., at the
distance of seventeen feet from the fireplace; and with a pipe of
wood, or any other imperfect conductor of heat, which would not
allow of its escaping by the way, it might undoubtedly be carried
to a much greater distance. By these means we were enabled to get
rid of the moisture about the berths where the people messed; but
when the weather became more severely cold, it still accumulated
in the bed places occasionally to a serious and very alarming
degree. Among the means employed to prevent the injurious effects
arising from this annoyance, one of the most efficacious, perhaps,
was a screen made of fearnaught, fixed to the beams round the
galley, and dropping within eighteen inches of the deck, which
served to intercept the steam from the coppers, and prevent it,
as before, from curling along the beams, and condensing upon them
into drops.

For the preservation of health, and as a necessary measure of
economy, a few alterations were made in the quantity and quality
of the provisions issued. I directed the allowance of bread to be
permanently reduced to two thirds, a precaution which, perhaps, it
would have been as well to adopt from the commencement of the
voyage. A pound of