Next to it come the ease and comfort with which this tremendous undertaking was accomplished.
During all these long years he did not lose a man, nor indeed were any of his companions sick; the doctor of the expedition had to study diseases of dogs to keep his hand in, so little work was there for him to do.
The story of the voyage reads like the journal of a quiet family at home, it is so peaceful and uneventful. It tells 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.