CAMPING 171 



Felt-lined rubber boots are the only things that really keep 

 the feet dry for any length of time, but, unless very thick 

 socks are worn, the heat from the feet condenses in cold 

 weather and makes the inside rather damp, while in warm 

 weather they are uncomfortable and steamy. So, as I said 

 before, it is a subject on which sound advice is difficult to 

 give ; and I say this after having tried all but the very 

 heavy boots, which being so noisy are entirely unsuited 

 to my work of careful, quiet, close-range stalking. During 

 the last two seasons I used the heavy lumberman's rubber 

 boots, and had perhaps more satisfaction with them than 

 anything I had previously tried. These came up about half- 

 way to the knee, so that under ordinary conditions no water 

 got into them. Besides wearing two pairs of woollen stock- 

 ings and a pair of socks (the coarser and more open the 

 better, as they allow of ventilation and are much warmer 

 than when made of fine closely knitted wool), I wore next to 

 the boot the regular lumberman's felt stocking coming 

 nearly up to the knee. This acts as a non-conductor, so that 

 when walking through icy water the amount of condensation 

 caused by the outside cold coming against the inside 

 warmth from the toot is reduced. These boots, felt and 

 stockings, must be dried every night. In very cold weather 

 it is of the utmost importance to have the foot-wear large 

 enough, so that nothing binds the foot. I never fully 

 realised the extraordinary advantage of having the clothing 

 very loose until one day on board the Rooseyeh^ Lieutenant 

 Peary (as he was then, the year before he discovered the 

 North Pole) insisted on my wearing some of his Esquimaux 

 seal-skin clothes as we looked over the ship. The day 

 was bitterly cold, and I had been shivering in my heavy 

 winter overcoat. I discarded it with some reluctance, and 

 was amazed at the comfortable warmth of the very light. 



