SLEDGE JOLTRNEY. 421 



The nose acts no longer merely as a condenser, as on 

 the spring journey ; it now becomes a cold-pole, and 

 leaving it outside the rimy and icy covering is preferable 

 to burying it in the questionable atmosphere of the sack. 

 The mouth, as the only outlet of exhalation, must remain 

 open, but the teeth get so cold that they feel like icicles, 

 and the mask, which it is necessary to wear in the night 

 freezes to the long beard. 



Happy were those who, during the lowest temperature 

 within the first fourteen days of our journey, could really 

 lose themselves during the hours of rest, if only for a 

 short time, for they were generally passed in a painful 

 waiting for a happy release, by — dragging ! 



This general wakefulness made it unnecessary to set a 

 special watch for bears and foxes, which occasionally made 

 a bold raid upon the stores in the sledge, for they had 

 never yet succeeded in approaching us quite noiselessly. 



In spite of all efforts to the contrary, the cutting cold 

 too soon penetrated the sleeping-sack ; within the tent 

 the temperature sinks from 60° or 65°, to below zero, 

 and the body has to be again refreshed with artificial 

 warmth, by motion and hot food. 



The natural consequences of this state of temperature 

 is a continually increasing sensation of freezing until the 

 morning. During the day the sack has got thoroughly 

 cold on the sledge, and must again be warmed by bodily 

 heat, being frozen into thick folds as hard as iron. Wlio- 

 ever lies upon these seems to be lying on laths, which 

 towards morning begin to lose their sharpness. One or 

 the other we keep a bottle of snow about us. All 

 are shivering, scarcely any sleep. For hours together 

 we are in a state of suffocation, the pressure on either 



