FIRST SOUTHERN TRIP 209 



would certainly have set a watch, as their brothers in 

 the North do, if they had had anything to fear. 



On this day we used skin clothing for the first time 

 reindeer-skin clothes of Eskimo cut but they proved to 

 be too warm. We had the same experience later. In 

 low temperatures these reindeer clothes are beyond 

 comparison the best, but here in the South we did not 

 as a rule have low temperatures on our sledge journeys. 

 On the few occasions when we experienced any cold 

 worth talking about, we were always in skins. When 

 we returned in the evening after our reconnoitring, we 

 had no need of a Turkish bath. 



On February 10, at 9.30 a.m., the first expedition left 

 for the South. We were four men, with three sledges 

 and eighteen dogs, six for each sledge. The load 

 amounted to about 550 pounds of provisions per sledge, 

 besides the provisions and outfit for the journey. We 

 could not tell, even approximately, how long the journey 

 would take, as everything was unknown. The chief 

 thing we took on our sledges was dogs' pemmican for the 

 depot, 350 pounds per sledge. We also took a quantity 

 of seal meat cut into steaks, blubber, dried fish, choco- 

 late, margarine, and biscuits. We had ten long bamboo 

 poles, with black flags, to mark the way. The rest 

 of our outfit consisted of two three-man tents, four 

 one - man sleeping - bags, and the necessary cooking 

 utensils. 



The dogs were very willing, and we left Framheim 



VOL. I. 14 



