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Eight detachable equatorial cringles were fixed to the equator of the net. They were to serve for holding up the balloon, and preventing it from oscillating, in the shed which was to shelter it at Spitzbergen, while awaiting a favourable wind for the departure of the expedition.

Protecting Cover.—A spherical calotte of single silk, varnished with four coats and vaselined, and having an area of 1,560 square feet, covers the upper part of the balloon. It is finished in the same way as the balloon, being composed of overlapping widths to the number of 720.

The seams, having a width of ¼ inch, are hooked together, and sewn with two rows of stitching with silk thread. They are not covered with cemented strips. Their total length is 656 yards.

The vertex of the protecting cover, of conical shape, is of double silk. It rests on a small wooden structure, likewise of conical shape, the base of which, placed on the material at the upper pole of the balloon, is surrounded and held in place by the crown of the net.