334 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
when, after a study of the labours of Jensen and Norden- 
skiold, he resolved to achieve the crossing of Greenland, 
conceiving that science would benefit more especially by 
discoveries respecting the meteorology of the inland ice. 
Nansen, who had determined on crossing from east to 
west, had already been for a cruise on the east coast of 
Greenland and had made acquaintance with the character 
of its difficult navigation. The study of the necessary 
equipment was undertaken with his never-failing care and 
intelligence. His party was to number six, and he had 
to consider the nature of the ground and the climate, 
while, as in all Arctic travelling, lightness had to be the 
main consideration. His sledges, of which he took five, 
were of ash, the upper part light and slender. They 
weighed 28 lb., and were 9 \ feet long by 20 inches wide, 
the runners shod with thin steel plates. They were 
turned up at both ends, with a chair-back-like bow for 
pushing and steering, and every joint was lashed, no 
metal being used. 
The tent was in five pieces of waterproof canvas, with 
two uprights and one cross pole of bamboo, the guy-ropes 
made fast to crampon-like hooks. The sleeping bags were 
of reindeer skin, with hood-shaped flaps to button over 
the head, each to hold three men. 
Nansen rightly decided that woollen clothes were the 
best, as avoiding condensation. He paid specially close 
attention to the foot gear. Woollen stockings were worn 
next the skin, then thick goat's-hair socks, and over 
these came the finneskos of the Lapps with the hair 
outside, stuffed, as is the Lapp custom, with a grass 
{Car ex vesicaria). Large woollen mitts were used, and 
fur caps with ear-flaps. The cooking apparatus consisted 
of a spirit-lamp with a copper tin-lined boiler above, tall 
and cylindrical, with a copper flue carried through the 
centre, by which the hot air passed to a broader and 
shallower copper vessel over the boiler to melt snow in, 
all cased in thick felt. With this apparatus and 12 oz. 
of spirits a gallon of chocolate and rather less of water 
was obtained in an hour. The provisions consisted of 
Beauvais dried meat (which contained insufficient fat), 
meat biscuits, chocolate with meat powder, pea soup 
with fat, and tea. Some luxuries such as condensed milk 
