THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 603 



summer did it heal, and I shall probably have the scar for life. When we 

 got into our sleeping-bags in the evening our clothes began to thaw 

 slowly, and on this process a considerable amount of physical heat was 

 expended. We packed ourselves tight into the bag, and lay with our 

 teeth chattering for an hour, or an hour and a half, before we became 

 aware of a little of the warmth in our bodies which we so sorely needed. 

 At last our clothes became wet and pliant, only to freeze again a few 

 minutes after we had turned out of the bag in the morning. There was 

 no question of getting these clothes dried on the journey so long as 

 the cold lasted, as more and more moisture from the body collected 

 in them." 



On page 175 : *'The tent up, and Johansen attending to the dogs, 

 I crept into the bag; but lying thawing in this frozen receptacle, with 

 frozen clothes and shoes, and simultaneously working out an observa- 

 tion and looking up logarithms, with tender, frost-bitten fingers, is not 

 pleasurable, even if the temperature be only 22° Fahr. below zero." 



Much more of the same kind could be quoted, but the picture 

 of discomfort is already clear — the typical picture of the sup- 

 posedly necessary experiences of an arctic explorer as it has found 

 its way into polar literature and into people's minds. 



As I have remarked elsewhere, there has not been a frostbitten 

 finger or toe in any party with which I have been connected dur- 

 ing any but the first of my ten years north of the arctic circle, 

 so we know the experience of "working out an observation and look- 

 ing up logarithms with tender, frost-bitten fingers" only through 

 reading. 



Nansen points out that during the day hoar frost gathers in 

 the clothing and melts in the evening either in the warmth of the 

 camp itself or, as with him, after crawling into the sleeping-bag. 

 So far as I know, this condensation of hoar frost cannot be entirely 

 prevented. Most of us are familiar with perspiration only in a 

 liquid form, but it is well known to physiologists, and can be easily 

 demonstrated when the weather is cold, that moisture is passing out 

 of most or all parts of the body at all times so long as the indi- 

 vidual is alive. If in calm weather at fifty below zero you hold 

 out your bare hand, a wisp of steam will be seen rising from every 

 finger, even though the hand may appear to be exceptionally dry 

 and cold almost to the verge of freezing. 



This vapor, invisible at ordinary temperatures, is continually 

 passing out from the body and out through the underwear. But 

 if the climate is cold, the dew point or point of condensation is 

 reached in the second or third layer of clothing where the cold 

 from the outside meets the warm "steam" and turns it into hoar 



