Evening star., 1894-03-10
Ancient Eskimo Sledxe.

sketch of ii, because tine reader can imagine
ladder twenty-four feet long. little more
than two feet wide and with rounds be
tween the two parallels, and he has in his
minds eye our device. Whether or not it
Will prove of any use to us remains to be
seen, but We hope to send you photographs
of it in service. Our ladders-we have a
number of them-are very strong, consider
ing that they weigh under 100 pounds each
They will support any one of our boats or
sledges and its load. They form a little
tramway over which We expect to run our
vehicles-frst up one side of an obstacle
and then down the other. OF course cur
boats and sledges are made to fit this con-
struction. to facilitate such an operation
Each ladder being fitted with a strip of
canvas over the rounds, men and dogs can
walk up and down. Where DeLong and
Melville. and Markham and Parr of the
English expedition, Payer and Weyprecht.
the Austrians, and others who have taken
boats and siedges over the pack found II
necessary to build bridges with the use of
axes and shovels we hope to find advan-
tage In the possession of bridges ready
made and carried with us.
Possibly this device will avail US nothing
Dut IL Is an experiment worth trying. 1t
VIII not work ideally. of course-few things
Go. even in zation-but if it saves US
more energy than is required to carry it,
and leaves balance in our favor. well and
Sood- We shall need IL most at the outset
and If il prove valueless beyond the region
of broken foes, it will be easy to throw IL
away. So, also, with some strong steel wire
which we shall take upon the ice with us,
10 use, III the occasion arises, as an aerial
tramway over difficulties of an extraordi-
raTy nature. Some of this we shall want
as tow lines and for other purposes but
the most of IT may be left by the wayside,
when the need for it no longer exists. or it
mas proved inefficacious.
Hard Work I'm the Rough lee.
At the beginning of our journey our loads
Will be heaviest and our road the toughest
Then, if ever, We need these artificial aids.
Then, too, we need the greatest number
of men, FOR here our dogs will be of small
service. So We add supporting party of
seven men to Our main party of the same
number. We shall have total weight of
more than 5000 pounds at the start-three
boats, five or six sledges, devices proyIs-
ions. general equipment. To each man we
shall have a weight of nearly 400 pounds
a little less than the sleiging party of
Markham and Parr carried but still too
heavy for rapid progress when we cannot
apply our animal power, which Mark ham
and Parr did not have. These weights,
however. are being constantly reduced by
consumption of food and fuel, and our
devices may be of some assistance to us.
struggling for ten, fifteen or twenty
days. or as many as may be necessary
smoother fields. Here we expect to travel
more rapidly, with four or five dogs and
one man to each sledge, and the same
number of dogs and two men to each boat
Our unit of weight is fixed at 600 pounds
No boat or sledge, with load. is to weigh
more than that; and If this does not give
us a distinct advantage over expeditions
which have had 1,5D. 5000 or even 1000
pounds in single mass, indivisible with
out great labor and loss of time we shall
be much mistaken. Between Parrys boats
of |. I0D pounds, belongs of $500 to $500
pounds and ours of 400 to 450 pounds there
is striking difference.
The Aluminium SIedSes,
In our type of sledge We have a novelty
1t is patterned after the Hudson bay
sledge, used for many years in northern
America. and a prototype of the pleasure to-
boggan. Most arctic travellers use sledges
with runners. the McClintock or the St
Michael They are hest for some condi-
tions of travel. Lieut.. Peary took flat-bot-
toned sledges on his first journey to Green
land, but now has runner sledges Doubt
less the latter are best for the hard crust
of the snow of the ice-cap over which
Peary makes his admirable JOURNEYS There
is less friction with runner sled than with
a Hudson bay. But in rough usage the
former breaks down quicker; the runners
turn in or are wrenched off; their shoes
break. For heavy work, for all kinds of
deep snow, slush. drifts. pockets the to-
boggan is doubtless superior.
Our sledges, therefore, are made with
fat bottoms They are of aluminium. with
rims turned up at the sides to give stiff
ness lengthwise and holes below the rims
for lashings to pass through. Our aiaIni-