chap xix AT ADVENT POINT 263 



only way to attack inland ice in Spitsbergen is to climb on 

 to the foot of some glacier that comes down to the sea, and 

 go right up it dragging sledges. For this work ponies are 

 useless, as they do little more than drag their own food for 

 a few days. 



We were also over-equipped in the matter of warm 

 clothing. Every one whose advice we took was accustomed 

 to regard all Arctic lands from the seaman's point of view. 

 We never really suffered from cold inland, as we did on 

 the Raftsund coming up. Ordinary warm winter clothes are 

 all you need in Spitsbergen. Bulky fur things cannot be 

 carried over bogs and stony areas. This fur apparatus was 

 therefore never unpacked. Even our reindeer-skin sleep- 

 ing-bags were a mistake, though a comfortable one ; they 

 were too big and heavy. Eider-down bags are the things 

 for inland travel. Our tents, though small, should have been 

 as much smaller as it is possible to make them, with canvas- 

 flooring instead of mackintosh, and made to close far more 

 tightly than English tent-makers dream of, but the stout 

 canvas employed for them was good and none too thick. 

 Tents for Spitsbergen must be absolutely waterproof. Each 

 man should have a waterproof sheet in which to wrap his 

 bundle. These sheets suffice for flooring. 



I take it that the principle of all travellers' equipment 

 is this : The heavy baggage and base camp should be 

 supplied in proper proportions with everything needed for 

 the journey. These things should be packed with intelligence 

 and thoroughly mixed. There should be no boxes full of 

 one kind of thing. Every piece of baggage should contain 

 a well-assorted combination, especially in the case of pro- 

 visions. Secondly, the light camp should be an epitome 

 of the base camp. It is useless to have a box full of rubber- 

 bands, for instance, at the base, when the single one you 

 need inland is not forthcoming ; and so with medicines, 



