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292 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
with moss, and having well-defined boundaries; so that
I could stand upon the brink, and probe them with my
walking-stick, which failed to find the bottom. I
considered what would be the best to do, in case of stepping
unexpectedly into such gulf, and determined that the
best course would be to throw myself backwards
immediately, then turn over, and scramble in the direction
from whence I came. In the first place, there would
be less danger of sinking when lying at one’s length
than when standing upright; for a certain weight, say
150 lbs., all concentrated on a small surface like that
covered by the feet, would have far more penetrating
power than the same weight spread over a large surface
such as that of a perpendicular section of the body:
thus, one might roll safely over a bog upon which it
would be impossible to walk. The horrible helplessness
of sticking in a bog arises from the effort required to
pull the leg out of the close-filling hole, in the total
absence of any fulcrum upon which to rest one foot
Avhile pulling up the other. The object of falling
backwards rather than forwards would be, of course, to make
way towards the ground of known solidity: that which
had been just walked over and thereby proved; while to
go forward would probably be progression from bad to
worse.
It is always desirable when placed in any position of
possible danger to suppose the occurrence of the danger,
and carefully consider the steps to be taken in such an
event; and if the risk is considerable, every step in the
predetermined effort for escape should, as far as prac-
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