if ordinary precautions are taken. With wet footgear
one is in constant danger of freezing the feet. The oil-stove with the
three-inch burner is barely sufficient to dry the gloves, of which two
pairs are worn, an outer pair of bearskin, and an inner pair of
deerskin." Another journal entry deals with a different kind of peril:

"Toxingwa and Weesockasee were overcome by the lack of oxygen and the
fumes of alcohol while MacMillan was preparing tea. Weesockasee fell
back as though asleep. Toxingwa was twisting around, as though to get
his arm free from one sleeve of his jacket. He too, finally fell back.
MacMillan surmised the cause and kicked the door to one side. In about
fifteen or twenty minutes they came around all right. The Commander on
another of his expeditions nearly had a similar experience when he saw
his Eskimos acting strangely, and quickly kicked out the side of the
igloo."

Still another peril that is omnipresent in sledge journeys over a polar
sea is that of falling through thin ice and getting thoroughly wet.
Perhaps it is not necessary to enlarge upon the gravity of this danger,
since it was precisely such an accident that cost Professor Marvin his
life. Even if the victim of such an accident should be able to drag
himself out of the water, he would in all probability speedily freeze to
death. Death by freezing comes speedily to a water-soaked man when
temperatures are ranging anywhere from 20 to 60 degrees below zero.

"Just finished changing my boots for a dry pair," writes the doctor.
"Crossing a lead covered with thin ice and fissured in the center, my
left leg went in to the knee. Fortunately my right foot was forward on
firm ice and I threw myself ahead, going down on my left knee on the
edge of firm ice and drawing my leg out of the water. At another lead
the ice gave way as I sprang from its surface. My right foot dipped into
the water to the ankle. I do not understand why I did not go down bodily
into the water. Had I gone in to my waist there would have been a
serious result, for the sledges were some distance away and the
temperature was 47 deg. below zero. In the absence of an igloo and a change
of clothes near at hand, a ducking in this temperature would certainly
have a serious termination."

Trying conditions these--yet the thing had its irresistible fascination,
and now and then came reflective moments like the one on February 25,
when the doctor, encamped on the way from the _Roose