96 THE NORTH POLE 



compressed meat food used on arctic expeditions; two 

 twenty -five pound tins of biscuit; two five-pound tins 

 of sugar, a few pounds of coffee and several cans of 

 condensed milk; an oil stove and five one-gallon tins 

 of oil; a rifle with one hundred rounds of ammunition 

 and a shotgun with fifty rounds; matches, a hatchet, 

 knives, a can opener, salt, needles and thread; and the 

 following medical supplies : catgut and needles, bandages 

 and cotton, quinine, astringent (tannic acid), gauze, 

 plaster-surgical liniment, boracic acid, and dusting 

 powder. 



The boats were swung at the davits, with a full 

 complement of oars, mast, sails, etc., and the emer- 

 gency outfit above described would have fitted them 

 for a voyage of a week or ten days. On leaving Etah 

 the essential items of supplies, such as tea, coffee, 

 sugar, oil, pemmican, and biscuit, had been stowed 

 on deck, close to the rail on both sides, ready instantly 

 to be thrown over the rail onto the ice, in case the 

 ship should be crushed. 



Every person on board, both the men of the ship 

 and the Eskimos, was ready with a little bundle packed 

 to get right over the side at a moment's notice, after 

 lowering the boats and throwing onto the ice the essen- 

 tial supplies stowed near the ship's rail. Nobody thought 

 of undressing regularly; and the bathtub in my cabin 

 might as well have been a trunk, for all the time I 

 dared to spend in it between Etah and Cape Sheridan. 



