606 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



Weather Bureau has records of sixty-eight degrees below zero from 

 Fort Yukon, which is probably about eight or ten degrees lower than 

 I have ever seen it, although I may have experienced such tem- 

 peratures without knowing it north of Great Bear Lake in 1911 

 when I had no thermometer. The Archdeacon and I met in New 

 York in 1919 and were comparing notes about our experience with 

 the inquiring public who always know how dreadfully cold it is in 

 the North and marvel that any one can live through it. He said 

 that the inquiry which he found most tedious usually took the 

 form, "How can you stand the dreadful cold up there?" Most of 

 his inquirers were women and he had devised the stereotyped 

 reply, "Madam, we do not endure the cold; we protect ourselves 

 from it." There it is in a nutshell. 



But coming back to Nansen and our method of dealing with the 

 hoar frost that forms in our clothing. His trouble lay in the fact 

 that he took the clothes with him into the tent and, worse yet, 

 into his sleeping-bag. Instead of pitching a tent when the weather 

 is cold, we build, by the method already described, a snowhouse 

 of such size as is required for our party. Then the fire is lighted. 

 The temperature now is whatever it is outdoors, perhaps fifty below 

 zero. The stove burns on a platform that is only a little lower 

 than the bed, and the man who is going to do tHe cooking stands 

 with all his clothing on down in the low place in front. Just as 

 soon as the air begins to warm up a little, he sheds his snow shirt 

 and presently his outer coat, being sure to do this before one par- 

 ticle of moisture has yet melted through the rise of temperature 

 in the house. Then he takes off as many pairs of his light drilling 

 trousers as have hoar frost in them, commonly stripping to his fur 

 underwear. Similarly, as many pairs of duffle slippers are taken 

 off as show hoar frost. Then he climbs on the sleeping platform, 

 dressed lightly in his underwear every garment of which is entirely 

 free from hoar frost. The outer garments are thrown out in the 

 alleyway where they remain without thawing. 



The rest of the men are occupied in feeding the dogs and get- 

 ting everything outdoors snug for the night. By the time they are 

 ready to come in, the house is comfortably warm. They do not 

 come in with their outer hoar frosted garments at all, but undress 

 in the alleyway and come in with only their underwear on. Of 

 course, this underwear is fur, and is a good deal warmer than 

 B.V.D.'s. 



Thus we have completely disposed of the problem of keeping our 

 clothing dry. But if through any accident clothes should get wet, 



