THE NEW TENTS 351 



pass for a short time; but through the coldest and 

 darkest part of the winter, working day after day, as 

 they did, it is pretty severe, and a great trial of patience. 

 Nor were their feet very well off either ; it makes hardly 

 any difference what one puts on them if one has to stay 

 still. Here, as elsewhere in the cold, it was found that 

 boots with wooden soles were the best for sedentary 

 work; but for some reason or other the occupants of 

 the Clothing Store would not give their adherence to 

 the wooden-sole principle, and continued to work all 

 through the winter in their reindeer-skin and sealskin 

 boots. They preferred stamping their feet to acknow- 

 ledging the incontestable superiority of wooden soles in 

 such conditions. 



As the sledges were finished, they were numbered 

 from one to seven, and stored in the clothing depart- 

 ment. The three old sledges we should have to use 

 were made for the Frams second expedition. They 

 were extremely strong, and, of course, heavier than the 

 new ones. They were all carefully overhauled; all the 

 bindings and lashings were examined, and replaced 

 wherever necessary. The steel shoes were taken off 

 one, but retained on the other two, in case we should 

 meet with conditions where they would be required. 



In addition to this work of lashing, these two had 

 plenty of other occupation. Whenever Wisting was 

 not taken up by the work on the sledges, one could 

 hear the hum of his sewing-machine. He had a thousand 



