The Meta apparatus was used by us for cooking during the time when we were divided into two camps, but afterwards, when we were re-united (making six in all), we found it more convenient to use the Primus. In the way of weapons each flying boat had one gun for big game, one shot-gun for fowl, and a Colt pistol. The last named we had taken in case of a chance visitor coming to the tent in the form of a polar bear; the pistol was also a lighter weapon to handle than a gun. We had seen on landing that there was animal life in this district, so the guard always carried a pistol on his nightly round. Polar bears are not quite such friendly creatures as people are inclined to believe, and so far north as we were they would most certainly be of an exceedingly hungry type. However, during the whole expedition we did not see a single one. It was fortunate that we had taken pistols with us, for we found that all our heaviest things had to be jettisoned to lighten the load, and we came to the conclusion that if the worst came to the worst, after letting the heavy guns go, we at least had the pistols left. [Illustration: THE EDGE OF THE POLAR ICE PACK] We had two kinds of smoke bombs with us. A smaller kind for throwing out onto the snow immediately before landing to show us the direction of the wind. A larger type had been brought for the following purpose: We thought there might be a possibility of one machine having to make a forced landing and that the other might have to search for it while trying, at the same time, to find a suitable landing place. To aid the crews in finding each other these smoke bombs were really intended. As we had to economize in every gram of weight, we had to keep the weight of these bombs so small that they proved hardly big enough for our needs. We used a bomb the first day on board N 25 when we did not know where N 24 was. The wind, however, was so strong that the smoke lay in a long strip over the snow plains. Had the weather been calm we might have had a more helpful result. [Illustration: OUR LAST HOPE FOR A TAKE-OFF, FIVE PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS HAVING FAILED] People will no doubt say that we should have tested these bombs before leaving, and had they proved too light, we should have ordered others of the necessary weight. This was, in the first place, our intention, but the order we gave for new bombs was unproductive, and it was only owing to the great kindness of the firm, J. P. Eisfeld Silberhütte (who undertook in the course of a few days to make our bombs and deliver them to us), that we had them at all. I should have felt very uncomfortable if I had started on a flight of this kind without bombs to determine the exact direction of the wind in case we might have to make a forced landing in difficult circumstances.