82 PLAN AND PREPARATIONS 



winter quarters. Outside the mits we wore an outer 

 covering of windproof material, so as not to wear them 

 out too quickly. These mits are not very strong, 

 though they are good and warm. Besides these, we 

 had ten pairs of ordinary kid mits, which were bought 

 at a glove-shop in Christiania, and were practically im- 

 possible to wear out. I wore mine from Framheim to 

 the Pole and back again, and afterwards on the voyage 

 to Tasmania. The lining, of course, was torn in places, 

 but the seams of the mits were just as perfect as the 

 day I bought them. Taking into consideration the fact 

 that I went on ski the whole way and used two poles, 

 it will be understood that the mits were strongly made. 

 We also had a number of woollen gloves, which, 

 curiously enough, the others greatly prized. For my- 

 self, I was never able to wear such things; they simply 

 freeze the fingers off me. 



But most important of all is the covering of the feet, 

 for the feet are the most exposed members and the 

 most difficult to protect. One can look after the hands ; 

 if they grow cold it is easy to beat them into warmth 

 again. Not so with the feet; they are covered up in 

 the morning, and this is a sufficiently troublesome piece 

 of work to make one disinclined to undo it again until 

 one is turning in. They cannot be seen in the course 

 of the day, and one has to depend entirely on feeling; 

 but feeling in this case often plays curious tricks. How 

 often has it happened that men have had their feet 



