BY SLEDGE AND KAYAK 275 



' Storr^Even,' was in almost as bad a plight. Haul he 

 could not, and the difficulty was to make him go on so 

 that he was not dragged with the sledge. He went a 

 little way, stumbling and falling, and being helped up 

 repeatedly ; but soon he was just as bad as ' Lillera^ven ' 

 had been, lagged behind, got the traces under the sledge 

 runners, and was dragged with it. As I thought I had 

 enough to do in haulino- the sledsfe, I let him o-o, in the 

 hope that he would, at any rate, follow us. He did so 

 for a little while, but then stopped behind, and Johansen 

 was compelled to fetch him and put him on his load, and 

 when we camped he was killed too. 



" ' Kaifas ' is the only dog I have left to help me haul 

 my sledge, and Johansen has ' Haren' and ' Suggen.' We 

 have rations for them for ten days from the two slaugh- 

 tered dogs, but how far we shall be able to get with them 

 the gods alone know. Not very far, I am afraid. Mean- 

 while our hitherto somewhat primitive method of hauling 

 had to be improved on. With two dog-harnesses we ac- 

 cordingly made ourselves proper hauling-gear,* and there- 



* A proper hauling harness is an important item, and in the long run 

 is much less trying than the ordinary hauling strap or rope crosswise over 

 the chest and one shoulder. The form of harness I use consists of two 

 straps, which are passed over both shoulders, like the straps of a knap- 

 sack, and are fastened crosswise over the back to a leather belt, where 

 the hauHng-rope from the sledge is also attached. It is thus in one's 

 power during the work of hauHng to distribute the strain equally between 

 both shoulders and the belt [i.e., the thighs and abdomen). The hauHng 

 'centre of gravity" is in this manner lower in the body, just above the 

 legs, which do the work, and the hauling-rope does not, as is usually the 

 case, press only on the upper part of the body. 



