stefansson-wrangel-09-27-023

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joints, discomfort and gloom. This Their gradually developing
pessimism was especially disturbing to me, for both were nor-
mally of smooth and optimistic temper. That the Eskimo boy
was also becoming pessimistic did not worry me, for he was of the
mental type which takes its color readily from others. Through
two years I had found him contented when others were contented
and depressed when they were depressed.

Gloom is an early symptom of scurvey and so we began
to suspect that disease. In any case, there was something so
seriously wrong that we had it seemed wiser to turn back. The illness alone
would not have led us to that decision, nor would the scarcity
of game without the illness. But the combination of the two
stopped us, although we had been pressing forward eagerly on one
of the most important journeys of our five-year expedition. We
had already penetrated far into the undiscovered ocean. To
the pure scientist it is of equal importance to find land or to
find the absence of land in an area being explored. One fact
is as significant as the other for a larger knowledge of the
earth. But there are few so purely scientific that fame is
meaningless. The point of view of the crowd is that the dis-
covery of land is success but the discovery of the absence of
land failure. They forget that the explorer can not alter what
he finds and should not be held responsible for anything but a
true report of the nature of his discovery. It seemed to all
of us that we had the approval of the crowd almost within our
grasp for the signs of land not far ahead were becoming more
numerous every day. We saw ourselves as its discoverers and my
companions were reluctant to turn back. But the decision was
mine and I believed our lives were in danger. So we turned