NANSEN'S EXPEDITION (1895) 217 



had leather boots of the " komager " type, made of under- 

 tanned ox-hide, with soles of the skin of the blue seal. 

 Inside the Finn shoes they used " sennegraes,"" or sedge 

 grass, which absorbs moisture and keeps the feet dry. 



On their hands they wore ordinary woollen mittens, and 

 above these large gloves of wolf-skin, neither of them 

 having divisions for the fingers. 



On their heads they wore felt hats, which shaded the 

 eyes from the dazzling light, and were not so pervious to 

 the wind as an ordinary woollen cap would be. Outside 

 the hat they generally had one or two hoods of cloth. 



To sleep in, they used a double bag of adult reindeer- 

 skin. 



In Nansen's opinion, a tent should always be carried. 

 He thinks that the inconsiderable increase in weight is 

 more than compensated for by the extra comfort. The 

 tent used was square at the base and pointed at the top, 

 and was pitched by means of a snowshoe-staff which served 

 the purpose of a tent-pole. The walls were kept down 

 by pegs, and then banked carefully round with snow to 

 exclude wind and draughts. At first Nansen tried a tent 

 with a canvas floor attached, but found that snow and 

 moisture collected on this and added much to the weight. 

 The whole tent weighed a little over 3 lb. 



The cooking apparatus consisted of two boilers and a 

 vessel for melting snow or ice. A Swedish gas-petroleum 

 lamp, known as "The Primus, 11 in which the heat 

 turns the petroleum into gas before it is consumed, 

 was used for heating. Nansen used petroleum because it 

 generates more heat in comparison with its weight than 

 alcohol. He took with him 4 gallons, and this enabled 

 them to cook two hot meals a day and melt an abundance 

 of water during 120 days. 



Several pairs of snow-shoes were taken. Their firearms 

 consisted of two double-barrelled guns, each having a 



