stefansson-wrangel-09-25-006-011

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- 11 -

great many clothing skins, so our outfit should be comfortable. A large number
of ducks and gulls seen."

September 27th the ocean was still free of ice and snow
was still lacking for sledging over the land. But on that day for the first
time since the arrival of the party the thermometer failed to rise above the freezing point, the maximim being 30o and the minimum 18o, Fahrenheit.

Knight does not tell us the exact date upon which enough
snow fell for sledging but this was evidently sometime after the 10th of
October, for on that day he says: "This morning Galle went eastward to the
three bears killed, intending to bring back a ham from one of the cubs, but
he returned with the information that the cubs had been nearly all eaten by
the foxes. Hitched up the dogs for exercise but did not go far for lack of
snow." This entry reminds us again of the optimistic feelings which the whole
party seems to have shared with Knight that there was no particular need for
saving what meat they had. The inference from "the cubs had been nearly all
eaten by the foxes" in that the meat of the old bear, less palatable no doubt
but still good dog feed, was as yet uneaten, and still they neither carries
it home on their backs nor hauled it home on the sledge, a thing that can be
done even when snow is absent. Galle had just gone to fetch cub meat because
they thought it would be a change in their diet and he seems to have
returned without any of the meat at all just because the most palatable parts
were missing. We emphasize this because it shows that they were frim in their
optimism and that laziness did not enter. A farmer in a remote district
may buy a carload of groceries when he goes to the village but most of us buy
only a little at a time because we know where we can always get more. That
is evidently how the Wrangell party felt whether about bears to be shot or bear
meat to be fetched home.

October 11th was "rather a good day for us. About 1:30 P.M.

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