On 28th February a start was again made, with six sledges instead of four. A broad board was fitted lengthwise to the sledge, underneath the cross-bars, so as to protect them against projecting pieces of ice. They had not proceeded far from the ship when Nansen came to the conclusion that the load was too heavy, and several sacks with food for the dogs were left behind. On the 3rd of March, Nansen again decided to return to the ship. The progress made with six sledges was unsatisfactory, and the cold was severe. On the 14th of March they left the _Fram_ for the third and last time. As regards clothing, Nansen had on the upper part of the body two woollen shirts; outside these a camel’s-hair coat, and last of all a thick rough jersey. Instead of the jersey, Johansen wore an “anorak” of thick homespun, provided with a hood. On the legs they had, next the skin, woollen drawers, and over these knickerbockers and loose gaiters of close Norwegian homespun. To protect them from wind and fine-driven snow, they wore a suit made of a thin, close kind of cotton canvas, and consisting of an upper garment to pull over the head, provided with a hood, and a lower one in the shape of a pair of wide overalls. Instead of wearing long stockings, Nansen preferred to use loose stocking-legs and socks, as these were more easily dried on the chest when asleep at night. For travelling over snow in a low temperature, Nansen recommends Finn shoes. They are warm and strong, are always flexible, and very easy to put on and take off. They must, however, be made of the skin of the hind-legs of the reindeer buck. In milder weather they had leather boots of the “komager” type, made of under-tanned ox-hide, with soles of the skin of the blue seal. Inside the Finn shoes they used “sennegraes,” or sedge grass, which absorbs moisture and keeps the feet dry. On their hands they wore ordinary woollen mittens, and above these large gloves of wolf-skin, neither of them having divisions for the fingers. On their heads they wore felt hats, which shaded the eyes from the dazzling light, and were not so pervious to the wind as an ordinary woollen cap would be. Outside the hat they generally had one or two hoods of cloth. To sleep in, they used a double bag of adult reindeer-skin. In Nansen’s opinion, a tent should always be carried. He thinks that the inconsiderable increase in weight is more than compensated for by the extra comfort. The tent used was square at the base and pointed at the top, and was pitched by means of a snowshoe-staff which served the purpose of a tent-pole. The walls were kept down by pegs, and then banked carefully round with snow to exclude wind and draughts. At first Nansen tried a tent with a canvas floor attached, but found that snow and moisture collected on this and added much to the weight. The whole tent weighed a little over 3 lb.