462 FARTHEST NORTH 



time and talk of all these things. They seemed almost 

 unimaginable. Fancy being able to throw away all the 

 heavy, oily rags we had to live in, glued as they were to 

 our bodies ! Our legs suffered most ; for there our 

 trousers stuck fast to our knees, so that when we moved 

 they abraded and tore the skin inside our thighs till it 

 was all raw and bleeding. I had the greatest difficulty 

 in keeping these sores from becoming altogether too 

 ingrained with fat and dirt, and had to be perpetually 

 washing them with moss, or a rag from one of the 

 bandages in our medicine-bag, and a little water, which 

 I warmed in a cup over the lamp. I have never 

 before understood what a magnificent invention soap 

 really is. We made all sorts of attempts to wash the 

 worst of the dirt away ; but they were all equall)' un- 

 successful. Water had no effect upon all this grease ; 

 it was better to scour one's self with moss and sand. We 

 could find plenty of sand in the walls of the hut, when 

 we hacked the ice off them. The best method, how- 

 ever, was to get our hands thoroughly lubricated with 

 warm bear's blood and train-oil, and then scrub it off 

 again with moss. They thus became as white and soft 

 as the hands of the most delicate lady, and we could 

 scarcely believe that they belonged to our own bodies. 

 When there was none of this toilet preparation to be 

 had, we found the next best plan was to scrape our skin 

 with a knife. 



If it was difficult to get our own bodies clean, it was 



