THE GREAT WHITE JOURNEY 237 



The three sledges used on our journey were the survivors 

 of a fleet of ten, comprising seven different styles. They con- 

 sisted simply of two long, broad wooden runners curved at 

 both ends, with standards supporting light but strong cross- 

 bars. The largest sledge was thirteen feet long and two feet 

 wide, with runners four inches wide and standards six inches 

 high ; this sledge had no particle of metal in its construction, 

 being composed entirely of wood, horn, and rawhide lashings. 

 It weighed forty-eight pounds, and carried easily a load of 

 a thousand pounds. After a two hundred and fifty mile trip 

 round Inglefield Gulf, it made the long journey to the north 

 and return to within two hundred miles of McCormick Bay, 

 when it was abandoned for a lighter sledge. The second 

 sledge was eleven feet by two, with three and one-half inch 

 runners and six-inch standards. It weighed thirty-five pounds, 

 and carried a load of over five hundred pounds. It broke 

 down on the upward trip and was abandoned. The third 

 sledge, made by Astrup, was ten feet by sixteen inches, with 

 three-inch runners and two-inch standards ; it weighed thirteen 

 pounds, and carried a load of four hundred pounds. This 

 sledge made the round trip of thirteen hundred miles, though 

 carrying a load for only about eight hundred miles. 



The result of this extended practical experience with sledges 

 has been to show me that my previous ideas as to the great 

 superiority of the toboggan type of sledge for inland-ice work 

 (ideas gained during my reconnoissance in 1886, east of Disko 

 Bay) were erroneous, and that the sledge with broad runners 



