ACROSS THE FROZEN SEA 219 



hours, had disappeared entirely by the time the last 

 sledge reached this first camp. It had been a trying 

 day for the sledges. The new "Peary" type, by reason 

 of its shape and greater length, had come off best. 

 Though two of these had suffered minor damages, none 

 of them had been put out of commission. Two of the 

 old Eskimo type had been smashed completely, and 

 another nearly so. 



The dogs were soon fed, and each division went for 

 supper and rest to its own igloo, leaving the rugged 

 surface of the ice to the darkness, and the howling wind 

 and drift. The march had been a somewhat hard one 

 for me, because, for the first time in sixteen years, the 

 leg which I had broken in Greenland, in 1891, had 

 been causing me considerable trouble. 



The door of my igloo had scarcely been closed by a 

 block of snow, when one of Henson's Eskimos came 

 running over, blue with fright, to tell me that Tornar- 

 suk was in camp, and that they could not light the alco- 

 hol in their new stove. I did not understand this, as 

 the stoves had all been tested on board ship and had 

 worked to perfection; but I got out and went over to 

 Henson's igloo, where it appeared that he had used up a 

 whole box of matches in unsuccessful efforts to light his 

 stove. Our stoves were of an entirely new design, using 

 no w T icks, and a moment's examination disclosed the 

 trouble. It was so cold that there was no vaporization 

 from the alcohol, and it would not light directly as at 

 higher temperatures. A bit of paper dropped into it 

 and lighted was the solution, and there was no further 

 trouble. 



The failure of even one of our alcohol stoves would 



