| stefansson-wrangel-09-25-006-035- 35 -
sleet not infrequently and snow occasionally. There is no complete weather
record but on August 11th Knight mentions, for instance, "when I arose the
ground was covered with about two inches of snow which soon melted." He
evidently found it a very strange summer, having experienced among the Canad-
ian islands so much more sunshine and warmth at the corresponding season five
hundred miles farther north.
Although the party were now taking advantage of every
hunting opportunity, the entry for August 17th shows that they were by no means
worried over the situation. With plenty of driftwood available for fuel and
with Knight praising its quality constantly, we are now told that "the last
couple of days Galle has been trying out bear blubber for cooking purposes.”
That would correspond to cooking with butter or bacon fat, something no one
would do who was in fear of hunger.
The hunting at this stage was generally successful although
the amount of game was not large. But there are always spells of bad luck in
hunting, as on August 20th when "a large bear was spotted about a mile to the
west on the beach coming this way. Crawford, Maurer and Galle set out
intending to hide near the other side of the river and wait for him to come
up. But the bear started up the xxxxx west side of the river and Crawford and
Galle took after him. The bear saw them and the last we saw of him was a
white streak going north."
It was now that the lack of the Eskimo skin boat began
to be felt. August 29th was "a beautiful day but cold. .... A great many
walrus heard offshore but too far away to be seen and too far to go after
because of the ice." This ice which was insuperable to men with a dory would
have been almost an advantage to the same party equipped with a skin boat.
During the next two or three days the walrus were continually heard snorting,
but were usually either beyond the horizon or hidden by the ice. | stefansson-wrangel-09-25-006-035- 35 -
sleet not infrequently and snow occasionally. There is no complete weather
record but on August 11th Knight mentions, for instance, "when I arose the
ground was covered with about two inches of snow which soon melted." He
evidently found it a very strange summer, having experienced among the Canad-
ian islands so much more sunshine and warmth at the corresponding season five
hundred miles farther north.
Although the party were now taking advantage of every
hunting opportunity, the entry for August 17th shows that they were by no means
worried over the situation. With plenty of driftwood available for fuel and
with Knight praising its quality constantly, we are now told that "the last
couple of days Galle has been trying out bear blubber for cooking purposes.”
That would correspond to cooking with butter or bacon fat, something no one
would do who was in fear of hunger.
The hunting at this stage was generally successful although
the amount of game was not large. But there are always spells of bad luck in
hunting, as on August 20th when "a large bear was spotted about a mile to the
west on the beach coming this way. Crawford, Maurer and Galle set out
intending to hide near the other side of the river and wait for him to come
up. But the bear started up the xxxxx west side of the river and Crawford and
Galle took after him. The bear saw them and the last we saw of him was a
white streak going north."
It was now that the lack of the Eskimo skin boat began
to be felt. August 29th was "a beautiful day but cold. .... A great many
walrus heard offshore but too far away to be seen and too far to go after
because of the ice." This ice which was insuperable to men with a dory would
have been almost an advantage to the same party equipped with a skin boat.
During the next two or three days the walrus were continually heard snorting,
but were usually either beyond the horizon or hidden by the ice. |
EN