stefansson-wrangel-09-25-004-018

-18-

[Hadley noted in Wrangel Island that the swelling and other
symptoms of illness developed most rapidly with those men who ate the most
pemmican, and in consequence the least seal or bear meat. The situation
was not thoroughly understood at the time even by Hadley, and his own
escape and that of the Eskimos was not due to a thorough understanding but
merely to the general notion that fresh food was better than "canned stuff.”
Also it was a matter of taste. The Eskimos and Hadley preferred the fresh
meat, and McKinlay seems to have fallen into their tastes early, which kept
him freer than any of the others from the symptoms of the disease - wholly
free, I believe. Hadley and the Eskimos were entirely free of every symptom
of nephritis.]

We found [Hadley continues] millions of ducks and gulls at Cape
Waring. We immediately went to the rookery, a matter of three miles from
camp, but there was not a crowbill in sight though there were plenty of
gulls. I shot twelve gulls, one for each of the party, and then returned to
camp where McKinlay was waiting for me to return with the team to fetch the
sick. I put one gull for each of them on the sled and he started back. The
native caught a seal during the day, which put us on Easy Street for the
time. Next day McKinlay returned from our old camp with the rest and I
thought a few days' feeding on ducks and duck soup would bring them around
all right. They were swelling up more and more all the time, I put this
down partly to the fact that they lay too much in their houses, never going
out. When they made tea they would dig snow from the side of the house for
the water

We got ducks and seals most every day and leater three ugrugs
(bearded seals) and one small walrus. Eventually I told the native to build