114 FARTHEST NORTH 



"ski." But instead of the broad, flat runners we used in 

 Greenland, I had the runners made in this case about 

 the same in width (3,1 inches), but somewhat convex 

 underneath, like those to be found on the " skikjelke " 

 of Osterdalen and elsewhere. These convex runners 

 proved to move very easily on the kind of country 

 which we had to travel over, and they enabled the long 

 sledges to be turned with ease, which was particularly 

 convenient in the drift-ice, where the many irregularities 

 often necessitated a very zigzag route. The runners 

 were covered with a thin plate of German silver, which, 

 as it always keeps bright and smooth and does not rust, 

 answered its purpose well. As I mentioned before, there 

 were thin, loose, well-tarred guard-runners of a kind of 

 maple {Acer platonides) underneath the German-silver 

 ones. The sledges were also prepared in various other 

 ways, which have been treated of before, for the heavy 

 loads they were to carry at the beginning. The result 

 of this was that they were somewhat heavier than I had 

 intended at first; but in return I had the satisfaction of 

 their being fit for use during the whole journey, and 

 not once were we stopped or delayed by their break- 

 ing down. This has hardly been the case with former 

 sledge journeys. 



I have referred several times to our clothes, and our 

 trial-trips in them. Although we had come to the con- 

 clusion that our wolfskin garments were too warm for 

 travelling in, we took them with us all the same on our 



