 CHAPTER III Tuesday, February 26. At last the day has arrived, that great day when the journey is to commence. The week has passed in untiring work to get everything ready. We should have started on the twentieth, but it has been postponed from day to day. There was always something still to do. My head has been full night and day, with all that was to be done, and that must not be forgotten. O this unceasing mental strain, which does not allow a minute's respite in which to throw off the responsibility, to give loose reign to the thoughts and let the dreams have full sway. The nerves are in a state of tension from the moment of awakening in the morning till the eyes close late at night. Ah, how well I know this state, which I have experienced each time I have been about to set out, and retreat was to be cut off. Never I believe more effectually than now. The last few nights I did not get to bed before half past three or half past four o'clock in the morning. It is not only what we ought to take with us that has to be taken care of, but we have to leave the vessel. This command and responsibility have to be placed in other hands, and care must be taken that nothing is forgotten in the way of instructions to the men who remain, as the scientific observations will have to be continued on the same lines as they have been carried on hitherto, and other observations of all kinds will have to be made, et cetera, et cetera. The last night we were to spend on board the Fromme eventually arrived and we had a farewell party. In a strange, sad way, reminiscences were revived of all that had be fallen us here on board, mingled with hope and trust in what the future would bring. I remained up till far into the night, letters and remembrances had to be sent to those at home in case the unforeseen should happen. Among the last things I wrote were the following instructions to Sverdrup, in which I handed over to him the command of the expedition. As I am now leaving the Fromme, accompanied by Johansson, to undertake a journey northward, if possible, to the pole, and from there to Spitzbergen most likely via Franz Josefland, I make over to you the command of the remaining part of the expedition. From the day I leave the Fromme, all the authority which hitherto was vested in me shall devolve upon you to an equal extent, and the others will have to render absolute obedience to you or to whomesoever you may depute as their leader. I consider it superfluous to give any orders about what is to be done under various contingencies, even if it were possible to give any. I am certain you will know best yourself what ought to be done in any emergency, and I therefore consider that I may with confidence leave the Fromme. The chief aim of the expedition is to push through the unknown polar sea, from the region around the new Siberian Islands, north of Franz Josefland, and onward to the Atlantic Ocean, near Spitzbergen or Greenland. The most essential part of this task I consider we have already accomplished. The remainder will be achieved as the expedition gets farther west. In order to make the expedition still more fruitful of results, I am making an attempt to push farther up north with the dogs. Your task will then be to convey home in the safest manner possible. The human lives now confided to your care, and not to expose them to any unnecessary danger, either out of regard for the ship or cargo, or for the scientific outcome of the expedition. No one can tell how long it may take before the Fromme drifts out into open water. You have provisions for several years to come. If for any unknown reason it should take too long, or if the crew should begin to suffer in health, or if from other reasons you should think it best to abandon the vessel, it should unquestionably be done. As to the time of the year when this should be done, and the route to be chosen, you yourself will be best able to judge. If it should be necessary, I consider Franz Josefland and Spitzbergen favorable lands to make for. If search is made for the expedition after the arrival home of Johansson and myself, it will be made there first. Wherever you come to land you should, as often as you can, erect conspicuous beacons on promontories and projecting headlands, and place within the beacons a short report of what has occurred and whether you are going. In order to distinguish these beacons from others, a small beacon should be erected four meters from the larger one in the direction of the magnetic north pole. The question as to what outfit would be most advantageous in case the prom should have to be abandoned is one which we have so frequently discussed that I consider it superfluous to dwell on it here. I know that you will take care that the requisite number of kayaks for all the men, sledges, snowshoes, chugger, and other articles of outfit are put in complete order as soon as possible and kept in readiness so that such a journey home over the ice could be undertaken with the greatest possible ease. Elsewhere I give you directions as to the provisions which I consider most suitable for such a journey and the quantity necessary for each man. I also know that you will hold everything in readiness to abandon the from in the shortest possible time in the event of her suffering sudden damage, whether through fire or ice pressure. If the ice permits it, I consider it advisable that a depot with sufficient provisions, etc., should be established at a safe place on the ice such as we have lately had. All necessaries which cannot be kept on the ice ought to be so placed on board that they are easy to get at under any circumstances. As you are aware, all the provisions now in the depot are concentrated foods for sludging journeys only, but as it may happen that you will have to remain inactive for a time before going farther, it would be highly desirable to save as much tinned meat, fish, and vegetables as possible. Should troubleous times come then, I should consider it advisable to have a supply of these articles ready on the ice. Should the from while drifting be carried far to the north of Spitzbergen and get over into the current under the east coast of Greenland, many possibilities may be imagined which it is not easy to form an opinion on now, but should you be obliged to abandon the from and make for the land, it would be best for you to erect beacons there as stated above with particulars as to whether you are going, etc., as search might possibly be made there for the expedition. Whether in that case you ought to make for Iceland, which is the nearest land, and where you should be able to get in the early part of summer if following the edge of the ice, or for the Danish colonies west of Cape Farewell, you will be best able to judge on considering all the circumstances. As regards what you ought to take with you in the event of abandoning the from besides the necessary provisions, I may mention weapons, ammunition, and equipment, all scientific and other journals and observations, all scientific collections that are not too heavy or, if too heavy, small samples thereof, photographs, preferably the original plates or films, or should these prove too heavy than prints taken from them, also the Ottoman aerometer with which most of the observations on the specific gravity of seawater are taken, as well as, of course, all journals and memoranda which are of any interest. I leave behind some diaries and letters which I would request you to take special care of and deliver to Eva if I should not return home, or if, contrary to all expectation, you should return home before us. Hansen and Blessing will, as you know, attend to the various scientific expeditions and to the collecting of specimens. You yourself will attend to the soundings and see that they are taken as frequently as possible and as the condition of the line permits. I should consider at least once in every 60 miles covered to be extremely desirable if it can be done oftener, so much the better. Should the depth become less than now and more variable, it goes without saying that soundings should be taken more frequently. As the crew was small before and will now be still further reduced by two men, more work will probably fall to each man's lot, but I know that whenever you can, you will spare men to assist in the scientific observations and make them as complete as possible. Please also see that every tenth day, the first, tenth, and twentieth of every month, the ice is bored through and the thickness measured in the same way as has been done hitherto. Henriksen has for the most part made these borings and is a trustworthy man for this work. In conclusion, I wish all possible success to you and to those for whom you are now responsible and may we meet again in Norway, whether it be on board of this vessel or without her. Yours affectionately, Fritjof Nansen, on board the Fram, February 25th, 1895. Now at last the brain was to get some rest and the work for the legs and arms to commence. Everything was got ready for the start this morning. Five of our comrades, Sferdrup, Hansen, Blessing, Henriksen, and Mogsten, were to see us off on our way, bringing a sledge and a tent with them. The four sledges were got ready, the dogs harnessed to them, lunch with a bottle of malt extract per man was taken just before starting and then we bade the last hardy farewell to those left behind. We were off into the drifting snow. I myself took the lead with Kvick as leading dog in the first sledge and then sledge after sledge followed a mid-shears, accompanied by the cracking of whips and the barking of dogs. At the same time a salute was fired from the quarter deck, shot after shot, into the whirling drift. The sledges moved heavily forward. It was slow traveling uphill and they came to a dead stop where the ascent was too steep and we all had to help them along. One man alone could not do it, but over level ground we flew along like a whirlwind and those on snowshoes found it difficult enough to keep pace with the sledges. I had to strike out as best I could when they came up to me to avoid getting my legs untangled in the line. A man is beckoning with his staff far in the rear. It is Mogstead who comes tearing along and shouting that three fluid stalker, crossbars, had been torn off a sledge in driving. The sledge with its heavy load had lurched forward over an upright piece of ice which struck the crossbars breaking all three of them, one after the other, one or two of the perpendicular supports of the runners were also smashed. There was nothing for it but to return to the ship to get it repaired and have the sledges made stronger. Such a thing ought not to happen again. During the return one of the sledges lurched up against another and a cane in the bow snapped. The bows would therefore also have to be made stronger. The sledges have again been unloaded and brought on board in order that this may be done and here we are again tonight. I am glad, however, that this happened when it did. It would have been worse to have had such an experience a few days later. I will now take six sledges instead of four so that the load on each may be less and so that it will be easier to lift them over the irregularities of the ground. I shall also have a broad board fitted lengthwise to the sledge underneath the crossbars so as to protect them against projecting pieces of ice. As a great deal of time is saved in the end by doing such things thoroughly before starting we shall not be ready to start before the day after tomorrow. It seemed strange to be on board again after having said good-bye, as I thought, forever to these surroundings. When I came up on the after-deck I found the guns lying there in the snow, one of them turned over on its back, the other had recoiled a long way aft when saluting us, from the mizzen top the red and black flag was still waving. I am in wonderfully high spirits and feel confident of success. The sledges seemed to glide so easily, although carrying two hundred pounds more than was originally intended, about twenty two hundred pounds altogether, and everything looks very promising. We shall have to wait a couple of days, but as we are having a south-easterly wind all day long we are no doubt getting on towards the north all the same. Yesterday we were eighty-three degrees forty-seven minutes, today I suppose we are at least eighty-three degrees fifty minutes. At last on Thursday, February twenty-eighth, we started again with our six sledges, Sverdrup, Hansen, Blessing, Henriksen and Magstead saw us off. When we started most of the others also accompanied us some distance, we soon found that the dogs did not draw as well as I had expected, and I came to the conclusion that with this load we should get on too slowly. We had not proceeded far from the ship before I decided to leave behind some of the sacks with provisions for the dogs, and these were later on taken back on board by the others. At four o'clock in the afternoon when we stopped our odometer showed that we had gone about four miles from the from. We had a pleasant evening in the tent together with our friends who were going back the next day. To my surprise a punch-bowl was prepared and toasts were proposed for those who were starting and those who remained behind. It was not until eleven o'clock that we crept into our sleeping-bags. There were illuminations in our honour that night on board the from. The electric arc-lamp was hoisted on the main top and the electric light for the first time shone forth over the ice masses of the polar sea. Torches had also been lit, and bonfires of oak-um ends and other combustibles were burning on several flows around the from and making a brilliant show. Spherdrop had, by the way, given orders that the electric light or a lantern should be hoisted on the main top every night until he and the others had returned for fear they might lose their way if the tracks should be obliterated by bad weather. It would then be very difficult to find the ship, but such a light can be seen a long distance over these plains where by merely standing on a hummock one can easily get a view for many miles round. I was afraid that the dogs, if they got loose, would go back to the from, and I therefore got two steel lines made, to which short leashes were fastened a little distance apart, so that the dogs could be secured to these lines between two sticks or sledges. In spite of this several of the dogs got loose, but strange to say they did not leave us, but remained with their comrades and us. There was, of course, a doleful howling round the tents the first night, and they disturbed our sleep to some extent. The next morning, Friday, March 1st, it took one of our comrades three hours to make the coffee, being unaccustomed to the apparatus. We then had a very nice breakfast together. Not before eleven thirty a.m. did we get under way. Our five comrades accompanied us for an hour or two, and then turned to get back to the from the same evening. It was certainly a most cheerful goodbye, says the diary, but it is always hard to part, even at eighty-four degrees, and maybe there was a tearful eye or two. The last thing Sverdrub asked me when sitting on his sledge, just as we were about to part, was, if I thought I should go to the South Pole when I got home, for if so he hoped I would wait till he arrived, and then he asked me to give his love to his wife and child. And so we proceeded, Johansson and I, but it was slow work for us alone with six sledges which were impeded on their way by all sorts of obstacles and inequalities. Besides this the ice became rougher, so that it was difficult to get on during the afternoon on account of the darkness, the days being still very short, and the sun was not yet above the horizon. We therefore camped rather early. On Saturday March 6th. We are again on board the Fromm to make a fresh start for the third time, and then I suppose it will be in earnest. On Saturday March 2nd we proceeded with the six sledges after I had been a trip to the Northward and found it passable. Progress was slow and we had to do nearly six turns each, as the sledges stopped everywhere and had to be helped along. I saw now too clearly that we should never get on in this manner, a change would have to be made, and I decided to camp in order to have a look at the ice northward and consider the matter. Having tied up the dogs I set out, while Johansson was to feed the dogs and put up the tent. They were fed once in every twenty-four hours at night, when the day's march was done. I had not gone far when I came upon excellent spacious planes. Good progress could be made, and so far everything was all right, but the load had to be diminished and the number of sledges reduced. Undoubtedly therefore it would be best to return to the Fromm to make the necessary alterations on board and get the sledges we were to take with us further strengthened so as to have perfect confidence in their durability. We might, of course, have dragged along somehow towards the north for a while and the load would gradually have decreased, but it would have been slow work, and before the load would be sufficiently lightened the dogs would perhaps be worn out. It was cold for them at night. We heard many of them howling most of the night. If however we diminished the load and consequently allowed a shorter time for the journey it would be preferable to wait and not start till a little later in the month, when we could make more out of the time as the days would be lighter and not so cold and the snow surface better. Having spent another night in the tent, into which it was a hard job to get, dressed in a fur that was stiff with frost and then into a bag that was also hard frozen, I decided next morning, Sunday, March 3, to return to the Fromm. I harnessed a double team of dogs to one of the sledges and off they went over presser ridges and all other obstacles so rapidly that I could hardly keep up with them. In a few hours I covered the same distance which had taken us three days when we started out. The advantage of a lighter load was only too apparent. As I approached the Fromm I sought to my surprise the upper edge of the sun above the ice in the south. It was the first time this year, but I had not expected it as yet. It was the refraction caused by the low temperature which made it visible so soon. The first news I heard from those who came to meet me was that Hansen had the previous afternoon taken an observation which gave eighty-four degrees four minutes north latitude. It was undoubtedly very pleasant once more to stretch my limbs on the sofa in the Fromm Saloon, to quench my thirst in delicious lime juice with sugar and again to dine in a civilized manner. In the afternoon Hansen and Nordahl went back to Johansson with my team of dogs to keep him company overnight. When I left him it was understood that he was to start on the return journey as best he could until I came with others to help him. The dogs lost no time and the two men reached Johansson's tent in an hour and twenty minutes. At night both they and we had rejoicings in honour of the sun and the eighty-fourth degree. The next morning three of us went off and fetched the sludges back. Now when we made for the ship the dogs dragged much better and in a short time we should have been on board had it not been for a long lane in the ice which we could see no end to and which stopped us. Finally we left the sludges and together with the dogs managed to cross over on some loose pieces of ice and got on board. Yesterday we twice tried to fetch the sludges but there had evidently been some movement in the lane and the new ice was still so thin that we dared not trust it. We have however today got them on board and we will now for the last time it is to be hoped prepare ourselves for the journey. I will now plan out the journey so as to take the shortest possible time using light sludges and tearing along as fast as legs and snowshoes will carry us. We shall be none the worse for this delay provided we do not meet too much pack ice or too many openings in the ice. I have weighed all the dogs and have come to the conclusion that we can feed them on each other and keep going for about fifty days. Having in addition to this dog provisions for about thirty days we ought to be able to travel with dogs for eighty days and in that time it seems to me we should have arrived somewhere. And besides we have provisions for ourselves for one hundred days. This will be about four hundred forty pounds on each sledge if we take three and with nine dogs per sledge we ought to manage it. So here we were again busy with preparations and improvements. In the meantime the ice moved a little, broke up, and lanes were formed in various directions. On March 8 I say, the crack in the large flow to starboard formed while we were away opened yesterday into a broad lane which we can see stretching with newly frozen ice towards the horizon both north and south. It is odd how that petroleum launch is always in hot water wherever it is. This crack formed underneath it so it was hanging with the stern over the water when they found it in the morning. We have now decided to cut it up and use the elm boards for the sledge runners. That will be the end of it. Wednesday March 13th. Eighty-four degrees north latitude. One hundred one degrees, fifty-five minutes east longitude. The days have passed working again at the equipment. Everything is now in order. Three sledges are standing ready out on the ice properly strengthened in every way with iron fastenings between uprights and crossbars. These last mentioned are securely strengthened with extra top pieces of ash and protected underneath by boards. This afternoon we tried the dogs with sledges loaded and they went as easily as could be and tomorrow we start again for the last time full of courage and confidence and with the sun up in the assurance that we are going towards ever brighter days. Tonight there has been a great farewell feast with many hearty speeches and tomorrow we depart as early as possible, provided our dissipation has not delayed us. I have tonight added the following post-script to Sfairdrup's instructions. P.S. in the foregoing instructions which I wrote rather hurriedly on the night of February twenty-fifth I omitted to mention things that should have been alluded to. I will restrict myself here to stating further that should you cite unknown land everything ought of course to be done in order to ascertain and examine it as far as circumstances will permit. Should the from drift so near that you think it can be reached without great risk everything that can be done to explore the land would be of the greatest interest. Every stone, every blade of grass, lichen or moss, every animal from the largest to the smallest would be of great importance photographs and an exact description should not be neglected. At the same time it should be traversed to the greatest possible extent in order to ascertain its coastline, size, etc. All such things should however only be done provided they can be accomplished without danger. If the from is adrift in the ice it is clear that only short excursions should be made from her as the members of such expeditions might encounter great difficulties in reaching the vessel again. Should the from remain stationary for any time such expeditions should still be undertaken only with great discretion and not be extended over any great length of time as no one can foresee when she may commence to drift again and it would be very undesirable for all concerned if the crew of the from were to be still further reduced. We have so often spoken together about the scientific researches that I do not consider it necessary to give any further suggestions here. I am certain that you will do everything in your power to make them as perfect as possible so that the expedition may return with as good results as the circumstances will permit. And now once again my wish is for all possible success and may we meet again before long. Your Affectionate, Free Chaff Nansen, the from March 13, 1895. End of File 4. File 5 of Farthest North, Volume 2. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Sharon Riscadal. Farthest North by Free Chaff Nansen, Volume 2, we make a start, Part 2. Before leaving the from for good I ought, perhaps, to give a short account of the equipment we finally decided on as the most likely to suit our purposes. I have already mentioned the two kayaks that had been made during the course of the winter and that we required to have with us in order to cross possible channels and pools and also for use when we should come to open sea. Instead of these kayaks I had at first thought of taking ready-made canvas boat covers and of using the sludges as frames to stretch them over. By this means a craft perfectly capable of carrying us over lanes and short bits of open sea could have been rigged up in a very short space of time. I subsequently gave up this idea, however, and decided on the kayak, a craft with which I was familiar and which I knew would render valuable assistance in several respects. Even if we had been able to contrive a cover for the sludges in such a manner that a boat could have been got ready in a short space of time it would not have been such quick work as simply launching a ready-made kayak. Added to this the craft would necessarily have been heavy to row and when it was a question of long distances in open water such as along the coasts of Franz Josefland or across thence to Spitzbergen much time would have been lost. One consideration indeed and that of some moment was the saving in weight if the sludges were made use of, but even this was not of so much importance as it seemed as the covers of both kinds of craft would have weighed about the same, and what would have been saved in the weight of the frames was not much if one remembers that a whole kayak frame only weighs about sixteen pounds. Then too if kayaks were used some weight would be saved by being able to carry our provisions and other impedimenta in bags of thin material which could be stowed away in the kayaks and the ladder lashed to the sludges. Our provisions would thus be protected against all risk of attack by dogs or of being cut by sharp pieces of ice. The other alternative, the canvas cover, which would have required fitting on and folding up again after being in the water would necessarily in the low temperatures we had to expect have become spoiled and leaky. Last but not least the kayak with its tightly covered deck is a most efficient sea boat in which one can get along in any kind of weather and is also an admirable craft for shooting and fishing purposes. The boat which one could have contrived by the other expedient could with difficulty have been made anyway satisfactory in this respect. I have also mentioned the sludges which I had made for this expedition. They were of the same pattern as those built for the Greenland one, somewhat resembling in shape the Norwegian shishelka, which is a low hand sledge on broad runners, similar to our ordinary 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 6 inches, but somewhat convex underneath like those to be found on the shishelka 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 sludges 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-tarned guard runners of a kind of maple, osse or platinitas, underneath the German silver ones. The sludges 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 sledge journey, and not once were we stopped or delayed by their breaking 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 conclusion that our wolfskin garments were too warm for travelling in, we took them with us all the same on our first trip and wore them too to a certain extent, but we'd soon discovered that they were always too warm and caused undue perspiration. By absorbing all the moisture of the body they became so heavy that they made an appreciable difference in the weight of our loads, and on our return from our three days absence from the vessel were so wet that they had to be hung for a long time over the saloon stove to dry. To this was added the experience that when we took them off in the cold, after having worn them for a time, they froze so stiff that it was difficult to get them on again. The result of all this was that I was not very favourably disposed towards them and eventually made up my mind to keep to my woolen clothes, which I thought would give free outlet to the perspiration. Johansson followed my example. Our clothes then came to consist of about the following. On the upper part of the body two woolen shirts, yeagers. Outside these I had a camel's haircoat, and last of all a thick rough jersey. Instead of the jersey Johansson wore what is called on-board ship an anorak of thick homespun provided with a hood, which he could pull forward in front of his face and made after an eskimo pattern. On our legs we had, next to our skin, woolen drawers, and over these knickerbockers and loose gaiters of close Norwegian homespun. To protect us from wind and fine-driven snow, which being of the nature of dust forces itself into every pore of a woolen fabric, we wore a suit which has been mentioned before, made of a thin, close kind of cotton canvas and consisting of an upper garment to pull over the head, provided with a hood in eskimo fashion and a lower one in the shape of a pair of wide overalls. An important item in any outfit is the foot gear. Instead of wearing long stockings I preferred to use loose stocking legs and socks, as these are easy to dry on one's chest when asleep at night. On a journey of this kind, where one is continually traveling over snow and in a low temperature, whether it be on ski or not, my experience is that fin shoes are without doubt the most satisfactory covering for the feet in every way. But they must be made of the skin of the hind legs of the reindeer buck. They are warm and strong, they are always flexible and are easy to put on and take off. They require careful management, however, if they are not to be spoiled at the outset, and one must try as well as one can to dry them when asleep at night. If it be sunny and good drying weather outside, the best plan is to hang them on a couple of ski-staffs or something of the kind in the wind outside the tent, preferably turned inside out, so that the skin itself can dry quickly. If one does not take this precaution, the hair will soon begin to fall out. In severe cold, such as we had on the first part of our journey, it was impossible to dry them in this way, and our only resource was then to dry them on the feet at night after having carefully brushed and scraped them free from snow and moisture. Then the next process is to turn them inside out, fill them with senagrass or sedge, if one have it, thrust one's feet in, and creep into the sleeping bag with them on. For milder weather later on we had provided ourselves with leather boots of the komager type, such as the laps used in summer. In this case they were made of under-tanned oxide, with soles of the skin of the blue seal, focabarbara. Well rubbed in, with the composition of tar and tallow, they make a wonderfully strong and watertight boot, especially for use in wet weather. Inside the fin shoe we used at the beginning of our journey, this senagrass, karex isakaria, of which we had taken a supply. This is most effective in keeping the feet dry and warm, and if used lap-wise, that is, with bare feet, it draws all moisture to itself. At night the wet senagrass must be removed from the boots well pulled out with the fingers, so that it does not cling together and then dried during the night by being worn inside the coat or trousers leg. In the morning it will be about dry, and can be pressed into the boots again. Little by little however it becomes used up, and if it is to last out a long journey a good supply must be taken. We also had with us socks made of sheep's wool and human hair, which were both warm and durable. In two we took squares of vaude-melle or Norwegian homespun, such as are used in our army, which we wore inside our commager, particularly myself, on the latter part of the journey when the snow was wet. They are comfortable to wear and easy to dry, as one can spread them out under one's coat or trousers at night. On our hands we wore large gloves of wolfskin, in addition to ordinary woolen mittens underneath, neither of them having separate divisions for the fingers. Exactly the same drying process had to be gone through with the gloves as with the footgear. Altogether the warmth of one's unfortunate body, which is the only source of heat one has for this sort of work, is chiefly expended in the effort to dry one's various garments, and we spent our nights in wet compresses in order that the morrow might pass in a little more comfort. On our heads we wore felt hats, which shaded the eyes from the dazzling light, and were less pervious to the wind than an ordinary woolen cap. Outside the hat we generally had one or two hoods of cloth. By this means we could regulate the warmth of our heads to a certain extent, and this is no unimportant thing. It had been my original intention to use light one-man sleeping bags made of the skin of the reindeer calf. As these however proved to be insufficiently warm, I had to resort to the same principle we went on in Greenland, that is, a double bag of adult reindeer skin. A considerable increase of warmth is thus attained by the fact that the occupants warm each other. Furthermore, a bag for two men is not a little lighter than two single bags. An objection has been raised to joint bags on the score that one's night's rest is apt to be disturbed, but this I have not found to be the case. Something which in my opinion ought not to be omitted from a sledge journey is a tent. Even if thin and frail, it affords the members of an expedition so much protection and comfort that the inconsiderable increase in weight to the equipment is more than compensated for. The tents that I had made for the expedition were of strong undressed silk and very light. They were square at the base and pointed at the top and were pritched by means only of a tent pole in the middle on the same principle as the four-man tents used in our army. Most of them had canvas floors attached. On our first start we took with us a tent of this kind intended to hold four men and weighing a little over seven pounds. The floor is a certain advantage as it makes the whole tent compact and is quick to put up besides being more impervious to wind. The whole tent is sewed in one piece, walls, and floor together, and the only opening a little split through which to crawl. One drawback, however, to it is that it is almost impossible not to carry in with one a certain amount of snow on the feet. This melts during the night from the heat of one's body lying on it and the floor absorbs the moisture, thereby causing the tent to be always a good deal heavier than the figures given here. I accordingly relinquished all idea of a tent of this kind and took with me one of about the same dimensions but without a floor and of the same silk material as the other. It took a little longer to put up, but the difference was not great. The walls were kept down by pegs, and when I was finished we would bank it carefully round with snow to exclude wind and drafts. Then came the actual pitching of the tent which was accomplished by crawling in through the entrance and poking it up with a ski staff which also served as a tent pole. It weighed a fraction over three pounds, including sixteen pegs, lasted the whole journey through, that is to say until the autumn, and was always a cherished place of refuge. The cooking apparatus we took with us had the advantage of utilizing to the utmost the fuel consumed. With it we were able, in a very short space of time, to cook food and simultaneously melt an abundance of drinking water so that both in the morning and in the evening we were able to drink as much as we wished and even a surplus remained. The apparatus consisted of two boilers and a vessel for melting snow or ice in, and was constructed in the following manner. Inside a ring-shaped vessel was placed the boiler while underneath this again was the lamp. The entire combustion output was thus forced to mount into the space between the boiler and the ring-shaped vessel. Over this was a tight-fitting lid with a hole in the middle through which the hot air was obliged to pass before it could penetrate farther and reach the bottom of a flat snow-melter which was placed above it. Then after having delivered some part of its heat the air was forced down again on the outside of the ring-shaped vessel by the help of a mantle or cap which surrounded the hole. Here it parted with its last remaining warmth to the outer side of the ring vessel, and finally escaped, almost entirely cooled from the lower edge of the mantle. For the heating was used a Swedish gas-patroleum lamp known as the primus in which the heat turns a petroleum into gas before it is consumed. By this means it renders the combustion unusually complete. Numerous experiments made by Professor Torrup at his laboratory proved that the cooker in ordinary circumstances yielded 90 to 93% of the heat which the petroleum consumed should by combustion theoretically evolve. A more satisfactory result, I think, it would be difficult to obtain. The vessels in this cooker were made of German silver, while the lid, outside cap, et cetera, were of aluminum. Together with two tin mugs, two tin spoons, and a tin ladle, it weighed exactly eight pounds, 13 ounces, while the lamp, the primus, weighed four and a half ounces. As fuel my choice this time fell on petroleum, snowflake. Alcohol, which has generally been used before on Arctic expeditions, has several advantages, and in particular is easy to burn. One decided drawback to it, however, is the fact that it does not, by any means, generate so much heat in comparison with its weight as petroleum when the latter is entirely consumed, as was the case with the lamp used by us. As I was afraid that petroleum might freeze, I had a notion of employing gas oil, but gave up the idea, as it escapes so easily, that it is difficult to preserve and is moreover very explosive. We had no difficulties with our snowflake petroleum on account of the cold. We took with us rather more than four gallons, and this quantity lasted us one hundred twenty days, enabling us to cook two hot meals a day, and melt in abundance of water. Of snowshoes we took several pairs, as we had to be prepared for breakages in the uneven drift ice. Besides this they would probably get considerably worn in the summertime when the snow became wet and granular. Those we took with us were particularly tough and slid readily. They were for the most part of the same kind of maple as the sledges and of birch and hickory. They had all been well rubbed in with a concoction of tar, steering, and tallow. As we calculated to subsist in a measure on what we could shoot ourselves, it was necessary for us to have firearms. The most important gun for this kind of work is, naturally, the rifle. But as in all likelihood, we should have to go across large expanses of snow where probably there would be little big game and, whereas on the other hand, birds might very likely come flying over our heads, I thought shotguns would be the most serviceable to us. Therefore we decided on the same equipment in this respect as we had in Greenland. We took with us two double-barreled guns, bux flints, each of them having a shot barrel of twenty four, and a barrel for ball, express, of about .360 caliber. Our supply of ammunition consisted of about 180 rifle cartridges and 150 shot cartridges. Our instruments for determining our position and for working sights were a small light-theodolite, especially constructed for the purpose, which, with its case, this I had also had made to act as a stand, only weighed a little over two pounds. We had, furthermore, a pocket sextant and an artificial glass horizon, a light azimuth compass of aluminum, and a couple of other compasses. For the meteorological observations, we had a couple of aneroid barometers, two minimum spirit thermometers, and three quicksilver sling thermometers. In addition to these, we had a good aluminum telescope and also a photographic camera. The most difficult, but also perhaps the most important, point in the equipment of a sledge expedition is thoroughly good and adequate victualing. I have already mentioned in the introduction to this book that the first and foremost object is to protect one self against scurvy and other maladies by the choice of foods, which, through careful preparation and sterilization, are assured against decomposition. On a sledge expedition of this kind, where so much attention must be paid to the weight of the equipment, it is hardly possible to take any kinds of provisions, except those of which the weight has been reduced as much as possible by careful and complete drying. As, however, meat and fish are not so easily digested from dried, it is no unimportant thing to have them in a pulverized form. The dried food is, in this manner, so finely distributed that it can, with equal facility, be digested and received into the organism. This preparation of meat and fish was, therefore, the only kind we took with us. The meat was muscular beef, taken from the ox, and freed from all fat, gristle, et cetera. It was then dried as quickly as possible in a completely fresh condition, and thereupon ground and mixed with the same proportion of beef suet as is used in the ordinary preparation of pemicin. This form of food, which has been used for a considerable time on sludge expeditions, has gained for itself much esteem and rightly. If well prepared as ours was, it is undeniably nourishing in easily digested food. One ought not, however, to trust to its always being harmless, as if carelessly prepared, that is slowly or imperfectly dried, it may also be very injurious to the health. Another item of our provisions by which we set great store was vagus fish flour. It is well prepared and has admirable keeping qualities. If boiled in water and mixed with flour and butter or dried potatoes, it furnishes a very appetizing dish. Another point which should be attended to is that the food be of such a kind that it can be eaten without cooking. Fuel is part of an equipment, no doubt, but if for some reason or other this be lost or used up, one would be in a bad case indeed, had one not provided against such a contingency by taking food which could be eaten in spite of that. In order to say fuel, too, it is important that the food should not require cooking but merely warming. The flour that we took with us had therefore been steamed and could, if necessary, have been eaten as it was without further preparation. Finally brought to a boil, it made a good hot dish. We also took dried boiled potatoes, pea soup, chocolate, real food, etc. Our bread was partly carefully dried wheaten biscuits and partly aluronate bread, which I had caused to be made a wheat flour mixed with about thirty percent of aluronate flour, vegetable, albumin. We also took with us a considerable quantity of butter, eighty-six pounds, which had been well worked on board in order to get out all superfluous water. By this means not only was considerable weight saved, but the butter did not become so hard in the cold. On the whole it must be said that our menus included considerable variety, and we were never subjected to that sameness of food which former sludge expeditions have complained so much of. Finally, we always had ravenous appetites and always thought our meals as delicious as they could be. Our medicine chest consisted on this occasion of a little bag containing naturally only the most absolutely necessary drugs, etc. Some splints and some ligatures and plaster, pair of bandages for possible broken legs and arms, apparent pails and laudanum for derangements of the stomach, which were never required, chloroform in case of an amputation, for example, from frostbite, a couple of small glasses of cocaine in solution for snow blindness, also unused, drops for toothache, carbolyic acid, iodiform gauze, a couple of curved needles and some silk for sewing up wounds, a scalpel, two artery tweezers also for amputations, and a few other sundries. Happily our medicines were hardly ever required, except that the ligatures and bandages came in very handily the following winter as wicks for our train oil lamps. Still better for this purpose, however, is Nicolayson's plaster, of which we had taken a supply for possible broken collar bones. The layer of wax we scraped carefully off and found it most satisfactory for caulking our leaky kayaks. List of the equipment sledge number one with Nansen's kayak. Kayak, 41 pounds, two ounces, 18.7 kilos. Pump for pumping kayaks in case of leakage, one pound, two ounces, 0.5 kilos. Sail, one pound, nine ounces, 0.7 kilos. Axe and geological hammer, one pound, five ounces, 0.6 kilos. Gun and case, seven pounds, four ounces, 3.3 kilos. Two small wooden rods belonging to cooker, zero pounds, 14 ounces, 0.4 kilos. Theolite and case, four pounds, 13 ounces, 2.2 kilos. Three reserve cross pieces for sledges, two pounds, zero ounces, 0.9 kilos. Some pieces of wood, zero pounds, 11 ounces, 0.3 kilos. Harpoon line, zero pounds, 8.4 ounces, 0.24 kilos. Fergators, one pound, three ounces, 0.55 kilos. Five balls of cord, two pounds, nine ounces, 1.17 kilos. Cooker with two mugs ladle and two spoons, eight pounds, 13 ounces, four kilos. Petroleum lamp, primus, zero pounds, four and a half ounces, 0.1 kilos. Pocket flask, zero pounds, six ounces, 0.17 kilos. Bag with sundry articles of clothing, eight pounds, 13 ounces, four kilos. Blanket, four pounds, six ounces, two kilos. Jersey, two pounds, eight ounces, 1.15 kilos. Fin shoes filled with grass, three pounds, one ounce, 1.4 kilos. Cap for fitting over opening in kayak, zero pounds, seven ounces, 0.2 kilos. One pair comager, two pounds, one ounce, 0.95 kilos. Two pair kayak gloves and one harpoon and line, one pound, five ounces, 0.6 kilos. One waterproof sail skin kayak overcooked, three pounds, one ounce, 1.4 kilos. Tool bag, two pounds, 10 ounces, 1.2 kilos. Bag of sewing materials including sail makers, palm, sail needles and other sundries, two pounds, 10 ounces, 1.2 kilos. Three Norwegian flags, zero pounds, four ounces, 0.1 kilos. Medicines, et cetera, four pounds, 15 ounces, 2.25 kilos. Photographic camera, four pounds, 10 ounces, 2.1 kilos. One cassette and one tin box of films, three pounds, 14 ounces, 1.75 kilos. One wooden cup, zero pounds, three ounces, 0.08 kilos. One rope for lashing kayak to sledge, two pounds, zero ounces, 0.9 kilos. Pieces of reindeer skin to prevent kayaks from chafing, three pounds, 15 ounces, 1.8 kilos. Wooden shovel, two pounds, three ounces, one kilo. Ski staff with disc at bottom, one pound, nine ounces, 0.7 kilos. One bamboo staff, one pound, zero ounces, 0.45 kilos. Two oak staffs, two pounds, 10 ounces, 1.2 kilos. Seven reserve dark harnesses and two reserve hauling ropes, two pounds, 10 ounces, 1.2 kilos. One coil of rope, zero pounds, six ounces, 0.18 kilos. Four bamboo poles for masts and for steering sledges, eight pounds, 13 ounces, four kilos. One bag of bread, five pounds, 15 ounces, 2.7 kilos. One bag of whey powder, three pounds, five ounces, 1.5 kilos. One bag of sugar, two pounds, three ounces, one kilo. One bag of albuminous flour, one pound, 12 ounces, 0.8 kilos. One bag of lime juice tablets, one pound, 10 ounces, 0.73 kilos. One bag of frame food stamina tablets, two pounds, seven ounces, 1.1 kilos. As boat scripts under the sledges were, three sacks of pemicin together, 238 pounds, one ounce, 108.2 kilos. One sack lever poste, or pate made of calves' liver, 93 pounds, 15 ounces, 42.7 kilos. Sledge number two, on this were carried in strong sacks, albuminous flour, 14 pounds, 15 ounces, 6.8 kilos. Wheat flour, 15 pounds, six ounces, seven kilos. Whey powder, 16 pounds, 15 ounces, 7.7 kilos. Corn flour, 8 pounds, 13 ounces, four kilos. Sugar, 7 pounds, one ounce, 3.2 kilos. Real food, 31 pounds, four ounces, 14.2 kilos. Australian pemicin, 13 pounds, zero ounces, 5.9 kilos. Chocolate, 12 pounds, 12 ounces, 5.8 kilos. Oatmeal, 11 pounds, zero ounces, five kilos. Dried red hordelberries, zero pounds, 14 ounces, 0.4 kilos. Two sacks of white bread together, 69 pounds, five ounces, 31.5 kilos. One sack of all-uronate bread, 46 pounds, 10 ounces, 21.2 kilos. Special food, a mixture of pea flour, meat powder, fat, et cetera, 63 pounds, 13 ounces, 29 kilos. Butter, 85 pounds, 13 ounces, 39 kilos. Fish flour, vagas, 34 pounds, two ounces, 15.5 kilos. Dried potatoes, 15 pounds, three ounces, 6.9 kilos. One reindeer skin sleeping bag, 19 pounds, 13 ounces, nine kilos. Two steel wire ropes with couples for 28 dogs, 11 pounds, zero ounces, five kilos. One pair hickory snowshoes, 11 pounds, zero ounces, five kilos. Weight of sledge, 43 pounds, five ounces, 19.7 kilos. Sledge number three with Johansson's kayak. Kayak, 41 pounds, six ounces, 18.8 kilos. Two pieces of reindeer skin to prevent chafing, one pound, 12 ounces, 0.8 kilos. A supply of dog shoes, one pound, three ounces, 0.55 kilos. One Eskimo shooting sledge was sale intended for possible seal shooting on the ice, one pound, 10 ounces, 0.73 kilos. Two sledge sales, two pounds, 10 ounces, 1.2 kilos. Pump, zero pounds, 14 ounces, 0.4 kilos. Or blades made of canvas stretched on frames and intended to be lashed to the ski staffs, one pound, two ounces, 0.5 kilos. Gun, seven pounds, 2.7 ounces, 3.26 kilos. Flask, zero pounds, 5.9 ounces, 0.17 kilos. Net for catching crustacea in the sea, zero pounds, 5.2 ounces, 0.15 kilos. One pair Komager, one pound, 15.7 ounces, 0.9 kilos. Waterproof kayak over coat of seal skin, two pounds, three ounces, one kilo. Furgators, zero pounds, 7.3 ounces, 0.21 kilos. Two reserve pieces of wood, zero pounds, 9.8 ounces, 0.28 kilos. Two tins of petroleum, about five gallons, 40 pounds, 0.6 ounces, 18.2 kilos. Several reserve snowshoe fastenings, zero pounds, 15.1 ounce, 0.43 kilos. Lantern for changing plates, et cetera, one pound, 1.2 ounces, 0.49 kilos. Artificial glass horizon, zero pounds, 10.2 ounces, 0.29 kilos. Bag with cords and nautical almanac, zero pounds, 4.6 ounces, 0.13 kilos. Pocket sextant, zero pounds, 13.7 ounces, 0.39 kilos. Two packets of matches, zero pounds, 13.7 ounces, 0.39 kilos. One reserve sheet of German silver for repaving plates under sled runners, zero pounds, 7.4 ounces, 0.21 kilos. Pitch, zero pounds, 3.5 ounces, 0.1 kilos. Two minimum thermometers in cases, zero pounds, 7.4 ounces, 0.21 kilos. Three quick silver thermometers in cases, zero pounds, 4.9 ounces, 0.14 kilos. One compass, zero pounds, 8.8 ounces, 0.25 kilos. One aluminum compass, zero pounds, 8.4 ounces, 0.24 kilos. One aluminum telescope, 11 pounds, 8.6 ounces, 0.7 kilos. Cinegrass or sedge for fin shoes, zero pounds, 7 ounces, 0.2 kilos. Bag with cartridges, 26 pounds, 1 ounce, 11.85 kilos. Leather pouch with reserve shooting requisites, parts for gun locks, reserve cocks, balls, powder, et cetera. Three pounds, 1 ounce, 1.4 kilos. Leather pouch with glass bottle, one spoon and five pencils, zero pounds, 10.6 ounces, 0.3 kilos. Bag with navigation tables, nautical almanac cards, et cetera. Two pounds, 7 ounces, 1.1 kilos. Tin box with diaries, letters, photographs, observation journals, et cetera. Three pounds, 10 ounces, 1.65 kilos. One cap for covering hole in deck of kayak, zero pounds, 8 ounces, 0.23 kilos. One sack of meat chocolate, 17 pounds, 10 ounces, 8 kilos. One bag of soups, 6 pounds, 10 ounces, 3 kilos. One bag of cocoa, 7 pounds, 6 ounces, 3.35 kilos. One bag of fish flour, 3 pounds, 12 ounces, 1.7 kilos. One bag of wheat flour, 2 pounds, 0 ounces, 0.9 kilos. One bag of chocolate, 4 pounds, 6 ounces, 2 kilos. One bag of oatmeal, 4 pounds, 6 ounces, 2 kilos. One bag of real food, 4 pounds, 6 ounces, 2 kilos. As grips under the sledge were, one sack of oatmeal, 29 pounds, 1 ounce, 13.2 kilos. One sack of pemekin, 115 pounds, 1 ounce, 52.3 kilos. One sack of liver pate, 111 pounds, 12 ounces, 50.8 kilos. A list of our dogs and their weights on starting may be of interest. Kvick, 78 pounds, 35.7 kilos. Fria, 50 pounds, 22.7 kilos. Barbara, 49.5 pounds, 22.5 kilos. Suggan, 61.5 pounds, 28 kilos. Flint, 59.5 pounds, 27 kilos. Barabbas, 61.5 pounds, 28 kilos. Gulen, 60.5 pounds, 27.5 kilos. Haran, 61.5 pounds, 28 kilos. Barnett, 39 pounds, 17.7 kilos. Sultan, 68 pounds, 31 kilos. Klapper's Langen, 59.5 pounds, 27 kilos. Block, 59 pounds, 26.8 kilos. Bielke, 38 pounds, 17.3 kilos. Schuliga, 40 pounds, 18 kilos. Katta, 45.5 pounds, 20.7 ounces. Narifas, 46 pounds, 21 kilos. Liviagarin, 38.5 pounds, 17.5 kilos. Potfer, 57 pounds, 26 kilos. Storraven, 70 pounds, 31.8 kilos. Ispian, 61.5 pounds, 28 kilos. Lila-raven, 59 pounds, 26.7 kilos. Kvindvoka, 37 pounds, 26 kilos. Perpetuum, 63 pounds, 28.6 kilos. Barrow, 60.5 pounds, 27.5 kilos. Rusen, 58 pounds, 26.5 kilos. Kyfus, 69 pounds, 31.5 kilos. Ulenka, 57 pounds, 26 kilos. Pan, 65 pounds, 29.5 kilos. End of File 5. File 6 of Farthest North Volume 2. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Sharon Riskadal. Farthest North by Fridtchef Nansen, Volume 2, Chapter 4. We say goodbye to the from. At last by midday on March 14th we finally left the from to the noise of a thundering salute. For the third time farewells and mutual good wishes were exchanged. Some of our comrades came a little away with us, but Sferdrup soon turned back in order to be on board for dinner at one o'clock. It was on the top of a hammock that we two said goodbye to each other. The from was lying behind us, and I can remember how I stood watching him as he strode easily homeward on his snowshoes. I half-wished I could turn back with him and find myself again in the warm saloon. I knew only too well that a life of toil lay before us and that it would be many a long day before we should again sleep and eat under a comfortable roof. But that that time was going to be so long as it really proved to be none of us then had any idea. We all thought that either the expedition would succeed and that we should return home that same year or that it would not succeed. A little while after Sferdrup had left us, Mogstead also found it necessary to turn back. He had thought of going with us till the next day, but his heavy wool-skinned trousers were, as he un- euphemistically expressed it, almost full of sweat and he must go back to the fire on board to get dry. Hanson, Henrickson and Petterson were then the only ones left and they labored along each with his load on his back. It was difficult for them to keep up with us on the flat ice, so quickly did we go. But when we came to pressure ridges we were brought to a standstill and the sledges had to be helped over. At one place the ridge was so bad that we had to carry the sledges a long way. When, after considerable trouble, we had managed to get over it, Petters shook his head reflectively and said to Hanson that we should meet plenty more of the same kind and have enough hard work before we had eaten sufficient of the loads to make the sledges run lightly. Just here we came upon a long stretch of bad ice and Peter became more and more concerned for our future, but towards evening matters improved and we advanced more rapidly. When we stopped at six o'clock the odometer registered a good seven miles, which was not so bad for our first day's work. We had a cheerful evening in our tent, which was just about big enough to hold all five. Petterson, who had exerted himself and become overheated on the way, shivered and groaned while the dogs were being tied up and fed and the tent pitched. He, however, found existence considerably brighter when he sat inside it in his warm wolf-skin clothes with a pot of smoking chocolate before him, a big lump of butter in one hand and a biscuit in the other and exclaimed, Now I am living like a prince. He therefore discoursed at length on the exalting thumb that he was sitting in a tent in the middle of the polar sea. Poor fellow he had begged and prayed to be allowed to come with us on this expedition. He would cook for us and make himself generally useful, both as a tinsmith and blacksmith, and then he said three would be company. I regretted that I could not take more than one companion and he had been in the depths of wool for several days, but now found comfort in the fact that he had at any rate come part of the way with us and was out on this great desert sea for, as he said, not many people have done that. The others had no sleeping-bag with them so they made themselves a cozy little hut of snow into which they crawled in their wolf-skin garments and had a tolerably good night. I was awake early the next morning, but when I crept out of the tent I found that somebody else was on his legs before me. And this was Petterson, who, awakened by the cold, was now walking up and down to warm his stiffened limbs. He had tried it now, he said. He never should have thought it possible to sleep in the snow, but it had not been half bad. He would not quite admit that he had been cold and that that was the reason why he had turned out so early. Then we had our last pleasant breakfast together, got the sledges ready, harnessed the dogs, shook hands with our companions, and, without many words, being uttered on either side, started out into solitude. Petters shook his head sorrowfully as we went off. I turned round when we had gone some little way and saw his figure on the top of the hammock. He was still looking after us. His thoughts were probably sad. Perhaps he believed that he had spoken to us for the last time. We found large expanses of flat ice and covered the ground quickly, farther and farther away from our comrades, into the unknown where we, too, alone and the dogs, were to wander for months. The from's rigging had disappeared long ago behind the margin of the ice. We often came on piled-up ridges and uneven ice where the sledges had to be helped and sometimes carried over. It often happened, too, that they capsized altogether. And it was only by dint of strenuous hauling that we ridded them again. Somewhat exhausted by all this hard work we stopped finally at six o'clock in the evening and had then gone about nine miles during the day. They were not quite the marches I had reckoned on, but we hoped that by degrees the sledges would become lighter and the ice better to travel over. The latter, too, seems to have been the case at first. On Sunday, March seventeenth, I say in my diary, the ice appears to be more even the farther north we get. Came across a lane, however, yesterday which necessitated a long detour. At half past six we had done about nine miles. As we had just reached a good camping ground and the dogs were tired, we stopped. Lowest temperature last night, minus forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, minus forty-two point eight degrees centigrade. The ice continued to become more even during the following days and our marches often amounted to fourteen miles or more in the day. Now and then a misfortune might happen which detained us as, for instance, one day a sharp spike of ice, which was standing up cut a hole in a sack of fish flour and all the delicious food ran out. It took us more than an hour to collect it all again and repair the damages. Then the odometer got broken through being jammed in some uneven ice and it took some hours to mend it by a process of lashing. But on we went northward, often over great wide ice plains which seemed as if they must stretch right to the pole. Sometimes it happened that we passed through places where the ice was unusually massive with high hummocks so that it looked like undulating country covered with snow. This was undoubtedly very old ice which had drifted in the polar sea for a long time on its way from the Siberian Sea to the east coast of Greenland and which had been subjected year after year to severe pressure. High hummocks and mounds are thus formed which summer after summer are partially melted by the rays of the sun and again in the winters covered with great drifts of snow so that they assume forms which resemble ice hills rather than piles of sea ice resulting from upheaval. Wednesday, March 20th, my diary says beautiful weather for traveling in with fine sunsets but somewhat cold, particularly in the bag at nights. It was minus 41.8 degrees and minus 43.6 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 41 degrees and minus 42 degrees centigrade. The ice appears to be getting more even the farther we advance and in some places it is like traveling over inland ice. If this goes on the whole thing will be done in no time. That day we lost our odometer and as we did not find it out till some time afterwards and I did not know how far we might have to go back I thought it was not worthwhile to return and look for. It was the cause however of our only being able subsequently to guess approximately at the distance we had gone during the day. We had another mishap too that day. This was that one of the dogs it was Liv Jagerin had become so ill that he could not be driven any longer and we had to let him go loose. It was late in the day before we discovered that he was not with us he had stopped behind at our camping-ground when we broke up in the morning and I had to go back after him on snowshoes which caused a long delay. Thursday March 21st 9 in the morning minus 43.6 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 42 degrees centigrade minimum in the night minus 47.2 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 44 degrees centigrade clear as it has been every day beautiful bright weather glorious for traveling in but somewhat cold at nights with a quick silver continually frozen patching fin shoes in this temperature inside the tent with one's nose slowly freezing away is not all pure enjoyment. Friday March 22nd splendid ice for getting over things go better and better wide expanses with a few pressure ridges now and then but passable everywhere kept at it yesterday from about half past 11 in the morning to half past 8 at night did a good 21 miles I hope we should be in latitude 85 degrees the only disagreeable thing about it now is the cold our clothes are transformed more and more into a cure-ass of ice during the day and wet bandages at night the blankets likewise the sleeping bag gets heavier and heavier from the moisture which freezes on the hair inside the same clear settled weather every day we are both longing now for a change a few clouds and a little more mildness would be welcome the temperature in the night minus 44.8 degrees Fahrenheit minus 42.7 degrees centigrade by an observation which I took later in the forenoon our latitude that day proved to be 85 degrees 9 minutes north Saturday March 23rd on account of observation lashing the loads on the sledges patching bags and other occupations of a like kind which are no joke in this low temperature we did not manage to get off yesterday before 3 o'clock in the afternoon we stuck to it till 9 in the evening when we stopped in some of the worst ice we have seen lately our days March however had lain across several large tracks of level ice so I think that we made 14 miles or so all the same we have the same brilliant sunshine but yesterday afternoon the wind from the northeast which we have had for the last few days increased and made it rather raw we passed over a large frozen pool yesterday evening it looked almost like a large lake it could not have been long since this was formed as the ice on it was still quite thin it is wonderful that these pools can form up there at that time of the year from this time forward there was an end of the flat ice which it had been simple enjoyment to travel over and now we had often great difficulties to cope with on Sunday March 24 I write ice not so good yesterday was a hard day but we made a few miles not more though than seven I am afraid this continual lifting of the heavily loaded sledges is calculated to break one's back but better times are coming perhaps the cold is also appreciable always the same yesterday it was increased by the admixture of considerable wind from the northeast we halted about half past nine in the evening it is perceptible how the days lengthen and how much later the sun sets in a few days time we shall have the midnight sun we killed Lee Viagra in yesterday evening and hard work it was skinning him this was the first dog which had to be killed but many came afterwards some of the most disagreeable work we had on the journey particularly now at the beginning when it was so cold when this first dog was dismembered and given to the others many of them once supperless the whole night in preference to touching the meat but as the days went by and they became more worn out they learned to appreciate dog's flesh and later we were not even so considerate as to skin the butchered animal but served it here and all the following day the ice was occasionally somewhat better but as a rule it was bad and we became more and more worn out with the never-ending work of helping the dogs riding the sledges every time they capsized and hauling them or carrying them bodily over hummocks and inequalities of the ground sometimes we were so sleepy in the evenings that our eyes shut and we fell asleep as we went along my head would drop and I would be awakened by suddenly falling forward on my snowshoes then we would stop after having found a camping-ground behind a hummock or ridge of ice where there was some shelter from the wind while Johansson looked after the dogs it generally fell to my lot to pitch the tent fill the cooker with ice, light the burner and start the supper as quickly as possible this generally consisted of lob-scouse one day made of hammocken and dried potatoes a third day of a sort of fish-resole substance known as fiskegraten in Norway and in this case composed of fish-meal, flour and butter a third day it would be pea, bean or lentil soup with bread and pomekin Johansson preferred the lob-scouse while I had a weakness for the fiskegraten as time went by however he came over to my way of thinking and the fiskegraten took precedence of everything else as soon as Johansson had finished with the dogs and the different receptacles containing the ingredients and eatables for breakfast and supper had been brought in as well as our bags with private necessities the sleeping bags were spread out the tent door carefully shut and we crept into the bag to thaw our clothes this was not very agreeable work during the course of the day the damp exhalations of the body had little by little become condensed in our outer garments which were now a mass of ice and transformed into complete suits of ice armor they were so hard and stiff that if we had only been able to get them off they could have stood by themselves and they crackled audibly every time we moved these clothes were so stiff that the arm of my coat actually rubbed deep sores in my wrists during our marches one of these sores, the one on the right hand got frost-bitten the wound grew deeper and deeper and nearly reached the bone I tried to protect it with bandages but not until late in the summer did it heal and I shall probably have the scar for life when we got into our sleeping bags in the evening our clothes began to thaw slowly and on this process a considerable amount of physical heat was expended we packed ourselves tight into the bag and lay with our teeth chattering for an hour or an hour and a half before we became aware of a little of the warmth in our bodies which we so sorely needed at last our clothes became wet and pliant only to freeze again a few minutes after we had turned out of the bag in the morning there was no question of getting these clothes dried on the journey so long as the cold lasted as more and more moisture from the body collected in them how cold we were as we lay there shivering in the bag waiting for the supper to be ready I who was cooked was obliged to keep myself more or less awake to see to the culinary operations and sometimes I succeeded at last the supper was ready, was portioned out and as always tasted delicious these occasions were the supreme moments of our existence moments to which we looked forward the whole day long but sometimes we were so weary that our eyes closed and we fell asleep with the food on its way to our mouths our hands would fall back inanimate with the spoons in them and the food fly out on the bag after supper we generally permitted ourselves the luxury of a little extra drink consisting of water as hot as we could swallow it in which whey powder had been dissolved it tasted something like boiled milk and we thought it wonderfully comforting it seemed to warm us to the very ends of our toes then we would creep down into the bag again buckle the flap carefully over our heads lie close together and soon sleep the sleep of the just but even in our dreams we went on ceaselessly grinding at the sledges and driving the dogs always northward and I was often awakened by hearing Johansson calling in his sleep to Pan or Barabbas or Klopperslangen get on you devil you go on you brutes sauce, sauce now the whole thing is going over and execrations less fit for reproduction until I went to sleep again in the morning I as cook was obliged to turn out to prepare the breakfast which took an hour's time as a rule it consisted one morning of chocolate bread, butter and pomegranate another of oatmeal porridge or a compound of flour, water and butter in imitation of our butter porridge at home this was washed down with milk made of whey powder and water the breakfast ready Johansson was roused we sat up in the sleeping bag one of the blankets was spread out as a tablecloth and we fell to work we had a comfortable breakfast, wrote up our diaries and then had to think about starting but how tired we sometimes were and how often I would not have given anything to be able to creep to the bottom of the bag again and sleep the clock round it seemed to me as if this must be the greatest pleasure in life but our business was to fight our way northward always northward we performed our toilets and then came the going out into the coal to get the sledges ready disentangle the dog's traces, harness the animals and get off as quickly as possible I went first to find the way through the uneven ice then came the sledge with my kayak the dog soon learned to follow but at every unevenness of the ground they stopped and if one could not get them all to start again at the same time by a shout and so pull the sledge over the difficulty one had to go back to beat or help them according as circumstances necessitated then came Johansson with the two other sledges always shouting to the dogs to pull harder always beating them and himself hauling to get the sledges over the terrible ridges of ice it was undeniable cruelty to the poor animals from first to last and one must often look back on it with horror it makes me shudder even now when I think of how we beat them mercilessly with thick ash sticks when hardly able to move they stopped from sheer exhaustion it made one's heart bleed to see them but we turned our eyes away and hardened ourselves it was necessary forward we must go and to this end everything else must give place it is the sad part of expeditions of this kind that one systematically kills all better feelings until only hard-hearted egoism remains when I think of all those splendid animals toiling for us without a murmur as long as they could strain a muscle never getting any thanks or even so much as a kind word daily writhing under the lash until the time came when they could do no more and death freed them from their pangs when I think of how they were left behind one by one up there on those desolate ice fields which had been witnessed to their faithfulness and devotion I have moments of bitter, self-reproach it took us two alone such a long time to pitch the tent feed the dogs, cook, etc. in the evening and then break up again and get ready in the morning that the days never seemed long enough if we were to do proper days' marches and besides get the sleep we required at night but when the nights became so light it was not so necessary to keep regular hours any longer and we started when we pleased whether it was night or day we stopped too when it suited us and took the sleep which might be necessary for ourselves and the dogs I tried to make it a rule that our marches were to be of nine or ten hours duration in the middle of the day we generally had a rest and something to eat as a rule bread and butter with a little pemekin or liver pate these dinners were a bitter trial we used to try and find a good sheltered place and sometimes even rolled ourselves up in our blankets but all the same the wind cut right through us as we sat on the sledges eating our meal sometimes again we spread the sleeping bag out on the ice took our food with us and crept well in but even then did not succeed in thawing either it or our clothes when this was too much for us we walked up and down to keep ourselves warm and ate our food as we walked then came the no less bitter task of disentangling the dog's traces and we were glad when we could get off again in the afternoon as a rule we each had a piece of meat chocolate most Arctic travelers who have gone sledge journeys complained of the so-called Arctic thirst and it has been considered an almost unavoidable evil in connection with a long journey across wastes of snow it is often increased too by the eating of snow I had prepared myself for this thirst from which we had also suffered severely when crossing Greenland and had taken with me a couple of India rubber flasks which we filled with water every morning from the cooker and which by carrying in the breast could be protected from the cold to my great astonishment however I soon discovered that the whole day would often pass by without my as much as tasting the water in my flask as time went by the less need did I feel to drink during the day and at last I gave up taking water with me all together if a passing feeling of thirst made itself felt a piece of fresh ice of which as a rule there was always some to be found was sufficient to dispel it the reason why we were spared this suffering which has been one of the greatest hardships of many sledge expeditions must be attributed in a great measure to our admirable cooking apparatus by the help of this we were able with the consumption of a minimum of fuel to melt and boil so much water every morning that we could drink all we wished there was even some left over as a rule which had to be thrown away the same thing was generally the case in the evening Friday March 29 we are grinding on but very slowly the ice is only tolerable and not what I expected from the beginning there are often great ridges of piled up ice of dismal aspect which take up a great deal of time as one must go on ahead to find a way and as a rule make a greater or less detour to get over them in addition the dogs are growing rather slow and slack and it is almost impossible to get them on and then this endless disentangling of the hauling ropes with their infernal twists and knots which get worse and worse to undo the dogs jump over and in between one another incessantly and no sooner has one carefully cleared the hauling ropes than they are twisted into a veritable skein again then one of the sledges is stopped by a block of ice the dogs howl impatiently to follow their companions in front then one bites through a trace and starts off on his own account perhaps followed by one or two others and these must be caught and the trace is knotted there is no time to splice them properly nor would it be a very congenial task in this cold so we go on when the ice is uneven and every hour and a half at least have to stop and disentangle the traces we started yesterday about half past eight in the morning and stopped about five in the afternoon after dinner the northeasterly wind which we have had the whole time suddenly became stronger and the sky overcast we welcomed it with joy for we saw in it the sign of a probable change of weather and an end to this perpetual cold and brightness I do not think we deceived ourselves either yesterday evening the temperature had risen to minus 29.2 degrees Fahrenheit minus 34 degrees centigrade and we had the best night in the bag we have had for a long time just now as I am getting the breakfast ready I see that it is clear again and the sun is shining through the tent wall the ice we are now travelling over seems on the whole to be old but sometimes we come across tracts of considerable width of uneven new ice which must have been pressed up a considerable time I cannot account for it in any other way than by supposing it to be ice from great open pools which must have formed here at one time we have traversed pools of this description with level ice on them several times that day I took a meridian observation however did not make us farther north in 85 degrees 30 minutes I could not understand this thought that we must be in latitude 86 degrees and therefore supposed there must be something wrong with the observation Saturday March 30th yesterday was Tycho Brahe's day at first we found much uneven ice and had to strike a devious route to get through it so that our days March did not amount to much although we kept at it a long time at the end of it however and after considerable toil we found ourselves on splendid flat ice more level than it had been for a long time at last then we had come on some more of the good old kind and could not complain of some rubble and snow drifts here and there but then we were stopped by some ugly pressure ridges of the worst kind formed by the packing of enormous blocks the last ridge was the worst of all and before it yonder crack in the thick ice about twelve feet deep when the first sledge was going over all the dogs fell in and had to be hauled up again one of them clappers log and slipped his harness and ran away as the next sledge was going over it fell in bodily but happily was not smashed to atoms as it might have been we had to unload it entirely in order to get it up again and then reload all of which took up a great deal of time then too the dogs had to be thrown down and dragged up on the other side with the third sledge we managed better and after we had gone a little way farther the runaway dog came back at last we reached the camping ground pitched our tent and found that the thermometer showed minus 45.4 degrees Fahrenheit minus 43 degrees centigrade disattangling dog traces in this temperature with one's bare frost-bitten almost skinless hands is desperate work but finally we were in our dear bag with the primus singing cosely when to crown our misfortunes I discovered that it would not burn I examined it everywhere but could find nothing wrong Johansson had to turn out and go and fetch the tools and a reserve burner while I studied the cooker at last I discovered that some ice had got in under the lid and this had caused a leakage finally we got it to light and at five o'clock in the morning the pea soup was ready and very good it was at three in the afternoon I was up again cooking thank heaven it is warm and comfortable in the bag or this sort of life would be intolerable Sunday March 31st yesterday at last came the long wished for change of weather with southerly wind and rising temperature early this morning the thermometer showed minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit minus 30 degrees centigrade regular summer weather in fact it was therefore with lightened hearts that we set off over good ice and with the wind at our backs on we went at a very fair pace and everything was going well when a lane suddenly opened just in front of the first sledge we managed to get this over by the skin of our teeth but just as we were going to cross the lane again after the other sledges a large piece of ice broke under Johansson and he fell in wetting both legs a deplorable incident while the lane was gradually opening more and more I went up and down it to find a way over but without success here we were with one man and a sledge on one side two sledges and a wet man on the other with an ever widening lane between the kayaks could not be launched as through the frequent capsizing of the sledges they had got holes in them and for the time being were useless this was a cheerful prospect for the night I on one side with a tent Johansson probably frozen stiff on the other at last after a long detour I found a way over and the sledges were conveyed across it was out of the question however to attempt to go on as Johansson's nether extremities were a mass of ice and his overall so torn that extensive repairs were necessary End of file 6