ARCTIC ICE-TRAVELS. 475 



The sledges are made of American elm, and the runners are shod 

 with steel. The cross-bars are lashed to the bearers with strips of 

 hide, which are well soaked in hot water and put on while warm and 

 wet, so that when cold they will shrink tightly into their places. 



The drag-ropes should be of two-inch whale-line, or better still of 

 hemp or manila rope, which is lighter, six fathoms in length, and 

 these could also be used for tent-ropes. They should be middled and 

 the bight toggled to the span on the fore-end of the sledge. The span 

 should be of the same size and description of rope, fitted to go with 

 an eye over the end of the horn at the after-end of the sledge, rove 

 through one or more grummets on the cross-bars, through a hide-strop 

 round the runner, and taken well down below the foremost horns, so 

 as to keep it as near as possible to the best angle of traction, namely, 

 15. The bight of the span should be about three feet in front of the 

 sledge, having a toggle and eye in the middle for the purpose of con- 

 necting the drag-ropes. To keep the contents from falling down be- 

 tween the cross-bars, two fore-and-aft lines are clove-hitched round 

 each and stretched taut along over these is laced a width of stout 

 canvas, on which rests the sledge trough or load, and is called the 

 sledge-bottom. The sledge-trough, although not absolutely necessary, 

 is extremely useful, as it enables the sledge to be loaded more speedi- 

 ly, and prevents small packages from tumbling out ; it is also most 

 useful in the event of much wet. It is simply a canVas body in which 

 the stores are packed, and weighs, without being oiled, eight pounds. 



The drag-belts are made of light loose girth, three inches wide, 

 long enough to go over a man's shoulder, having a strong eyelet-hole 

 worked in each end, into which is spliced a piece of one-inch rope, 

 having a thimble on it. Round this thimble is spliced a small piece 

 of rope, having at its other end a bung toggle, usually a circular piece 

 of copper. This is attached to the drag-rope after the manner of a 

 Blackwall hitch, the advantao-e being that the man can detach him- 

 self at any instant. Turk's-heads worked on the drag-ropes point out 

 where the men are to attach themselves. The sledge-lashings consist 

 of about twenty fathoms of one and one-quarter inch untarred rope, 

 and are used for lashing the lading on the sledge. 



Too much care cannot be taken in the stowage and lashing of the 

 sledge. The greatest weight should be over the centre cross-bar, di- 

 minishing toward the end, so that the sledge will rise easily and grad- 

 ually, and descend in the same manner, when traveling over rough 

 or hummocky ice. A well-packed, that is, a well-trimmed, sledge is 

 dragged with less exertion, and less jerking to the men's shoulders, 

 when going over rough ice, than one that has been carelessly packed. 

 The lashings should be passed so tight that, should the sledge be up- 

 set and roll over, its contents would remain intact. It will be found 

 convenient to fit a light cross-bar across each end of the sledge, for 

 the purpose of spreading a light netting, on which to stand the cook- 



