stefansson-wrangel-09-25-006-027

OverviewTranscribeVersionsHelp

Facsimile

Transcription

Status: Needs Review

- 27 -

two chased the bear several hours and, although they were able to delay it
some, Crawford and Galle never caught up. They could doubtless have shot the
bear but one does not fire at a great distance when the bear and the dogs are
almost in line and when each dog is worth ten times as much as the bear.

The method of hunting bears with dogs is inherited from
the old Eskimo periods when no other way was available, the weapons being bows
and arrows. Even with the most powerful modern rifles some Eskimos still use
dogs. This seems especially true in eastern North America and in Greenland
where the arctic explorers have usually followed the Eskimo custom. It has been
the experience of expeditions through ten years of living by hunting that
any average hunter can secure bears two or three times as well without dogs
as he can with them.
After a detailed account of the bear hunt, Knight closes
the entry; "After six hours the hunters returned stating that the bear had
kept on going regardless of the dogs. They saw several fairly fresh bear
tracks, but the going was nearly impossible for often they sank to their waists,
and to their knees at nearly every step. Fed the last of the bear meat and
unless another bear appears soon shall have to start cooking again."

April on Wrangell Island was stormy and snowy. Still, it
was spring. On the 28th the temperature rose to 40oF., or eight degrees
above freezing. Parts of the land occasionally became bare through thawing
but were covered again by the frequent snowfalls that are typically of an arctic
April if you are on a seacoast or on a small island.

On april 29th Galle went for a short trip inland from
which he returned in two days. "He camped the first night in the hills in
a snowhouse after climbing a peak 1950 feet high (by aneroid barometer).
He was unable to see very far to the north because of a ridge farther on. He
then went to the other camp where he found the tent slightly damaged by a

Notes and Questions

Nobody has written a note for this page yet

Please sign in to write a note for this page