The footwear presented an important side of our rig-out. It might happen that we should have to make a march of many hundred kilometers back again. We were prepared to find that there would be deep mush on the ice, as it was the warmest time of summer, and we would often have to take off our skis for the purpose of clambering over the icebergs and ice-banks. Skiing boots were therefore needed, knee-high, with watertight legs. The long legs made the boots very heavy for anything but skiing, for which they proved they were admirably suited when we tried them in Spitzbergen. For ordinary wear, when we should be resting, in a district where skis would not be of use, each man had an extra pair of boots. We therefore took with us to Spitzbergen many different kinds of footwear, so that each man could choose those which he considered would suit him best. (If a man has had the opportunity of choosing his footwear, he will find them much easier to wear when on a long march and exposed to hardship.) In order that we might have the opportunity to form an opinion of our own we obtained samples of every suitable type. In the accompanying photograph there is a complete row of the different kinds. From the left it will be seen that we had long-legged boots--skiing boots (fashioned like the Norwegian “lauparstövler”). These we could either choose or reject. The next in the row are a pair of long-legged kamikker, of which we had a considerable choice as also some with shorter legs. By the side of these, stand boots designed for flying and they are the kind which Roald Amundsen has described. Beside these you will see a pair of Laplander’s boots and a pair of Canadian lumber-man’s boots. In the foreground lie a pair of long rubber boots. When I asked Ramm to take a photograph of this miscellaneous footgear which--“we required at Spitzbergen”--he, like the humorist he is, could not let such an opportunity pass without a joke, and therefore placed on the extreme right a pair of dancing shoes! The result of the selection was that Amundsen, Omdal and Feucht chose Laplanders’ boots; the two latter because this type of boot was practical when they had to climb from the motor gondola to the tank compartment. Ellsworth and Dietrichson chose short-legged kamikker, whilst I took the long-legged rubber boots. As every one, during and after the flight, was particularly well pleased, and praised his own selection in loud tones, it goes without saying that the original purpose of individual selection was thus attained. In accordance with the request of Rolls-Royce, we used Shell Aero-petrol, and Wakefield’s Castrol R. oil. We cannot speak too highly of both. The fact that N 25’s engine always started instantly on the many occasions when we had to free the flying boat from the clutch of the ice, without the use of naphtha, is a credit which Feucht and Rolls-Royce must share with the petrol.