I then proceeded to get my breakfast, for which, as I had tasted nothing since some hours before the start, I had a hearty appetite.

I had anticipated some trouble from the diminished action of gravity, doubting whether the boiling-point at this immense height above the Earth might not be affected; but I found that this depends upon the pressure of the atmosphere alone, and that this pressure was in nowise affected by the absence of gravity.

My atmosphere being somewhat denser than that of the Earth, the boiling-point was not 100 deg., but 101 deg.Cent.

The temperature of the interior of the vessel, taken at a point equidistant from the stove and from the walls, was about 5 deg.

C.; unpleasantly cool, but still, with the help of a greatcoat, not inconveniently so.