stefansson-wrangel-09-25-008-010

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- 10 -

entries the first year to the effect that the Eskimo woman was gloomy and
not doing her sewing as rapidly as other Eskimo women with whom Knight was
familiar. But the tenor of these comments changes the second year and the
farther the diary goes the more frequent are the grateful and even enthusiastic
comments upon Ada Blackjack's improvement both in the work she did and in her
cheerfulness while doing it. On , for instance, Knight
says: "The woman is doing wonderful work and is a great deal better than a
year ago." By then she had almost finished a clothing outfit for Crawford
and Knight for their proposed journey to Nome and they were evidently very
well satisfied with it.

As December advanced bear tracks were frequently seen but
the bears themselves were more elusive than ever. This is partly explained
by the numerous entries of "cloudy," "cloudy and warm," etc. At 72° North
Latitude, it is only on cloudless days that there is daylight enough at this
time of year for reading or shooting four or five hours around noon. On a
cloudy day a white thing like a polar bear is very difficult to see.

In the entry for Christmas Eve, 1922, we have the first
suggestion that the party felt the danger of provisions running short. "We
are celebrating by having an extra hard bread or so apiece."

We have incorporated into this article in full every
mention contained in the diary that relates to the proposed trip to Nome.
On December 25th the subject comes up again. "l finished the complete set
of dog harness for the trip and Crawford is busy making ridgepoles and
uprights for the tent" - doubtless the tent which they intended to carry with
them to use if they had to camp where there was insufficient snow for build-
ing a snowhouse. The next day, "Crawford working on the tent and I brought
the sled indoors and made several repairs on it. Hope to finish it to-morrow.
Snowing hard, so the trappers stayed in camp to-day." Before that time the

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