LOST IN THE MACKENZIE DELTA m 



vapor that the explorers tell about condensing in their 

 clothing and making them damp. 



When the explorers I had read about came into camp 

 in the evening, there was a little rime along every seam, 

 and perhaps in other parts of their clothes. As the camp 

 became warm this melted and made the clothes damp. 

 They did not dry over night. Next day more rime gath- 

 ered and next night they became more wet. Some ex- 

 plorers have described how their clothes became soaking 

 wet in a week or two of travel. They would sleep at night 

 with everything on inside the sleeping bags. The frost 

 in the garments then melted and the explorers slept in a 

 cold bath all night. Next morning when they got up they 

 would have to take hold of their sleeves with their fingers 

 to keep them tight while they were freezing, so that they 

 should not wrinkle up and leave the wrist bare. The 

 sleeves were now as stiff as boards. One explorer tells 

 how his sleeves were so hard that the edge of one cut a 

 gash into his wrist just above the thumb so deep that the 

 scar remained for years after. 



With all this book knowledge in my head, I was a good 

 deal worried setting out on my first trip with Roxy, but 

 he explained to me how all these troubles could be easily 

 avoided. On this particular trip we would have a stove 

 and a roaring fire every night, so wet things could be 

 dried. However, the trick was to take off before going 

 into camp the garments with hoar frost in them. If you 

 are wearing only one coat the hoar frost will not gather 

 inside of it because of the warmth of your body, and it is 

 found only on the outside. This is the smooth skin side 

 and you can scrape the rime off with a knife or shake it 

 off. But if you are wearing two coats, the hoar frost 

 will probably gather on the inner side of the outer coat. 



