EQUIPMENT OF A SLEDGE EXPEDITION 185 



one week's ration were packed in one large bundle, making a 

 cube of little less than one foot. They were all stowed along the 

 middle of the sledge, from fore to aft, while blocks of pemmican, 

 butter, and chocolate were placed on either side of this box. A 

 thin piece of sheet iron was bent and one side lashed to the 

 sledge so that it formed the half-side of a box, which made the 

 food almost inaccessible to the dogs. A rope lashing held the 

 whole thing in place, and only once a dog happened to get 

 an extra meal from the sledge, but the way in which he was 

 then cut round the mouth taught him to leave it alone for 

 the future. 



To carry out our plan of exploration over the pack ice of 

 Beaufort Sea we had calculated a stay of eighty days on the 

 ice, and we carried for that trip 510 Ibs. of man's food and 

 570 Ibs. of dog-feed. 



The total weight, sledges included, was 1,632 Ibs., but that 

 was too much for the three sledges, and it was brought down 

 to 1,226 Ibs. when we started the second time, taking food for 

 only sixty-five days for three men. As for the dogs which we 

 took out with us, we only intended to bring back four of 

 the twelve; the rest were to be killed whenever the weight 

 of the sledges had diminished so much as to make one dog 

 superfluous. Each dog was counted as twenty rations to 

 his comrades. 



This arrangement proved very satisfactory, and helped by 

 the men on the sledges, the dogs were able to take them 

 along. 



Dr. Howe was to have been the third of the party, but after 

 our return from our first unsuccessful attempt to reach the 

 pack ice he withdrew, partly on account of Thuesen's illness, 

 partly because he was so shortsighted that he could not see far 

 enough ahead to avoid sharp ice, at any rate not without glasses, 

 which cannot be used on the ice, as the breath condenses on 

 them and makes them foggy. We were sorry that he could not 

 go, but the only case where we might have needed him in his 

 professional capacity was when Mr. Leffingwell had a bad 

 attack of snow-blindness. 



Mr. Storkersen was taken in Dr. Howe's place, and he proved 

 himself as good a man on the ice as he has always been on 

 board. 



