THE WHITE WORLD 



down, the foot is found white and glossy, like porcelain. 

 A more careful examination reveals the fact that one or 

 two toes are missing, and then the sock is shaken for the 

 missing bits before an effort is made to restore the circula- 

 tion of the icy tissues. But an explorer must learn to rise 

 above such little discomforts. He who cannot afford to 

 lose strips of his skin, or parts of his hands and feet, is 

 not worthy to be counted among the braves who seek the 

 pole. 



No! it is not the cold which makes the life of frigid ex- 

 plorers hard; it is the hopelessness of the unimaginable 

 isolation from the accustomed walks of life. Perhaps it is 

 unbecoming to the supposed austerity of explorers to admit 

 that the withdrawal of the little home and social incidents 

 of life are the causes of the greatest discomforts, but this 

 is nevertheless the fact. One misses most the little touches 

 of romance which are unconsciously a part of our daily en- 

 tertainment. After being locked in the ice and forced to 

 endure its awful monotony for a few months, what would 

 one not give for a letter, or a word from home, from mother 

 or sisters, or other men's sisters? Ordinarily, men do not 

 know what it is that makes life enjoyable, but he who aims 

 to reach the North Pole will quickly learn that he suffers 

 not from the cold or hunger, but from the little nothings 

 of home and social life which are there far out of reach. 



I might go on and recite a hundred other lessons which 

 go to make up the schooling and deprivation of the Pole 

 seekers, but I hasten to record the comforts. There are 

 few, but they exist to him who seeks them. For here is the 

 world nearest to its youthful character. The moving crust 

 of the earth with which we drift, the hardy, simple life, and 

 even the sky, all suggest a period of the earth in its infancy 

 long before the advent of man. It is this strange sim- 

 plicity, this other-world air of terrestrial youth, which 

 makes the polar regions so fascinating to nature-loving man. 

 Everything about us is new, yet old; every sight is simple, 

 yet clothed in mystery; every phenomenon like a shy 

 maiden, is attractive, but difficult of access. The haste 

 and hustle of the living world are far from the mental hori- 

 zon, and the mind is ready to examine new problems. It is 

 fortunate that one can, after a little experience, here open 



142 



