198 THE NORTH POLE 



continual zone of open water or impracticable young 

 ice in the center, as occurred on our upward journey 

 of 1906 and the never-to-be-forgotten return journey 

 of that expedition, when this lead nearly cut us off 

 forever from life itself. 



A lead might have opened right through our camp, 

 or through one of the snow igloos, when we were sleep- 

 ing on the surface of the polar sea. Only — it didn't. 



Should the ice open across the bed platform of an 

 igloo, and precipitate its inhabitants into the icy water 

 below, they would not readily drown, because of the 

 buoyancy of the air inside their fur clothing. A man 

 dropping into the water in this way might be able to 

 scramble onto the ice and save himself; but with the 

 thermometer at 50° below zero it would not be a 

 pleasant contingency. 



This is the reason why I have never used a sleeping- 

 bag when out on the polar ice. I prefer to have my 

 legs and arms free, and to be ready for any emergency 

 at a moment's notice. I never go to sleep when out 

 on the sea ice without my mittens on, and if I pull my 

 arms inside my sleeves I pull my mittens in too, so as 

 to be ready for instant action. What chance would a 

 man in a sleeping-bag have, should he suddenly wake 

 to find himself in the water? 



The difficulties and hardships of a journey to the 

 North Pole are too complex to be summed up in a 

 paragraph. But, briefly stated, the worst of them are: 

 the ragged and mountainous ice over which the traveler 

 must journey with his heavily loaded sledges; the often 

 terrific wind, having the impact of a wall of water, 

 which he must march against at times; the open leads 



