It took us a long time to prepare our food--about six hours;--everything which contained water was frozen to the consistency of stone, and to heat this, or indeed any kind of food, the Jackson apparatus, which was the only stove we had taken from the ship, was inefficient, while its consumption of alcohol was, in our experience, so wasteful that its use as an item of polar equipment is injudicious. It took us about two hours to thaw out some penguin steak, and two more to make a soup which has the enchanting name of “_bonne femme_.” In this we managed to mix a liberal supply of reindeer hair, penguin grease, and other flavouring material. The soup was a failure,--but not quite so much so as the chocolate prepared shortly after. This was made in a can in which the penguin steak had been warmed. It contained, besides chocolate, milk and sugar, much butter, penguin oil, blood, and pieces of fishy meat, some “_bonne femme_” soup, and reindeer fur. Lecointe, who had the honour of having the first cup, received, besides the major quantity of oil, the lighter floating material. He pronounced it “scandalous!” But the other victims who tried it praised its nutritious qualities very highly. After our feed we stowed ourselves away in our bags, falling on each other’s stomachs, as our efforts to reach the bottom failed. Finally we went to sleep while the wind roared and the snow dropped on our tent, making a sound like bits of metal; a music which, when comfortably stowed in our bags, proved restful and conducive to sleep. [Illustration: Ice-Flowers.] [Illustration: The Assembled Discs of Ice Crystals which give Origin to Polar Ice.]