154 FROST-BITES. 



brous than he should, — a little too much for personal 

 comfort, that will be dead weight. Traveling in this 

 region is governed by very rigorous laws, and very 

 little latitude is allowed in the choice of one's outfit. 

 There is probably no place in the world where the 

 traveler is compelled to deny himself so completely 

 those little articles of convenience which contribute 

 so much to the personal satisfaction. On shipboard 

 he may indulge his taste for luxury to the extent of 

 his means ; but when he takes to the ice-fields and 

 the dog-sledge he must come down to hard fare and 

 carry nothing but what is absolutely necessary to sus- 

 tain life, — and this is simply meat, bread, and coffee, 

 or tea if he prefers it. The snow must serve for his 

 bed, and his only covering must be what is just suffi- 

 cient to keep him from freezing. Fire he cannot have, 

 except the needful lamp to cook his food, and if he 

 should get cold he must warm himself by exercise. 

 During my late journey to the glacier, I carried for 

 fuel only three quarts of alcohol and the same quan- 

 tity of oil, and this was not all used. 



I went this morning into the hold to look after my 

 companions on the recent journej^ They have all 

 recovered from their little frost-bites except Christian, 

 whose nose is as big as his fist and as red as a beet. 

 He takes good-naturedly the jeers of his messmates. 

 Knorr is, however, almost as badly off in the nasal re- 

 gion as Christian, but he has suffered no further misad- 

 venture. The nose is, indeed, a serious inconvenience 

 to the Arctic traveler, for it insists upon exposing it- 

 self upon every occasion ; and if you put it under a 

 mask, it revenges itself by coaxing the moisture of 

 the breath up beneath it, so that in an hour's time the 

 intended protector becomes a worse enemy than the 



