19"] DANGERS OF THE ROTTING ICE 
105 
mist of perspiration, he suddenly felt the ice giving under 
his feet. He describes the sensation as the worst he ever 
experienced, and one can well believe it ; there was no 
one near to have lent assistance had he gone through. 
Instinctively he plunged forward, the ice giving at every 
step and the sledge dragging through water. Provi- 
dentially the weak area he had struck was very limited, 
and in a minute or two he pulled out on a firm surface. 
He remarked that he was perspiring very freely ! 
Looking back it is easy to see that we were terribly 
incautious in our treatment of this decaying ice. 
