ARCTIC ICE SLEDGING 199 



already described, which he must cross and recross, 

 somehow; the intense cold, sometimes as low as 60° 

 below zero, through which he must — by fur clothing 

 and constant activity — keep his flesh from freezing; 

 the difficulty of dragging out and back over the ragged 

 and "lead" interrupted trail enough pemmican, biscuit, 

 tea, condensed milk, and liquid fuel to keep sufficient 

 strength in his body for traveling. It was so cold much 

 of the time on this last journey that the brandy was 

 frozen solid, the petroleum was white and viscid, and the 

 dogs could hardly be seen for the steam of their breath. 

 The minor discomfort of building every night our narrow 

 and uncomfortable snow houses, and the cold bed plat- 

 form of that igloo on which we must snatch such hours 

 of rest as the exigencies of our desperate enterprise per- 

 mitted us, seem hardly worth mentioning in comparison 

 with the difficulties of the main proposition itself. 



At times one may be obliged to march all day long 

 facing a blinding snowstorm with the bitter wind search- 

 ing every opening in the clothing. Those among my 

 readers who have ever been obliged to walk for even an 

 hour against a blizzard, with the temperature ten or 

 twenty degrees above zero, probably have keen memories 

 of the experience. Probably they also remember how 

 welcome was the warm fireside of home at the end of 

 their journey. But let them imagine tramping through 

 such a storm all day long, over jagged and uneven ice, 

 with the temperature between fifteen and thirty degrees 

 below zero, and no shelter to look forward to at the end of 

 the day's march excepting a narrow and cold snow house 

 which they would themselves be obliged to build in that 

 very storm before they could eat or rest. 



