(10) the toes of their snow-shoes through the young ice in crossing the big lead on their return from the Pole in 1909 and failed to break through completely. The toes of t[scribble]snow-shoes are turned up so that they are [scribbled out] an inch or more above the surface upon which one is walking. They are lifted further in ordinary walking, but in tra- versing thin ice they are scuffled along to avoid shock from impact. It seems to me that if the ice bent so much as to meet the snow shoe toe or catch it, disaster would surely result. One cannot, as far as I know, tip the toe of the shoe down- ward in walking or scuffling.