| stefansson-wrangel-09-25-008-011- 11 -
diary tells us almost every day that two or three of the boys were out
tending traps. Sometimes they came in with foxes and sometimes only with
the reports of bear tracks and fox tracks seen.
On December 27th, "the sled and tent in good shape and
all that is left for us to do is to get our outfit together."
January 4th we have the next mention of the trip.
"I have been busy packing up to-day as we hope to get away in a day or two."
January 7th, "Crawford and I spent the day getting ready, loading the sled,
getting things together, etc., Maurer and Galle to their traps. Maurer got
a fox and saw several tracks."
Then we have abruptly under date of January 7th, "At
1 P.M. Crawford and I started over fine going and making good time. We
traveled south an hour and hit broken-up young ice with soft snow in
between. The moon is about one-quarter on the wane and it was slightly
misty. After numerous tip-overs because of increasing darkness, we camped.
Our load is rather heavy and the dogs soft from inaction. We lost one of
our two ice picks and a pot lid. Rather a bad start."
The diary entries at this time are lengthy and full of
details that will all be printed in a later book narrative, but here we can note
only the most significant points. On January 8th, Knight says, "In all,
we have about thirty days' rations and by then we should be in Siberia" -
a more than reasonable estimate as Bartlett was known to them to have made
the same journey from Wrangell to the Siberian settlements in twelve days.
The food was pilot bread, dried meat and seal's fat, with four new sealskins
with fat attached - the last a form of dog feed that we frequently use, a
"balanced ration" for the hide gives the protein and the attached fat the
carbohydrate. The load was 700 lbs. in addition to the sledge.
The entries for the first few days are of routine nature. | stefansson-wrangel-09-25-008-011- 11 -
diary tells us almost every day that two or three of the boys were out
tending traps. Sometimes they came in with foxes and sometimes only with
the reports of bear tracks and fox tracks seen.
On December 27th, "the sled and tent in good shape and
all that is left for us to do is to get our outfit together."
January 4th we have the next mention of the trip.
"I have been busy packing up to-day as we hope to get away in a day or two."
January 7th, "Crawford and I spent the day getting ready, loading the sled,
getting things together, etc., Maurer and Galle to their traps. Maurer got
a fox and saw several tracks."
Then we have abruptly under date of January 7th, "At
1 P.M. Crawford and I started over fine going and making good time. We
traveled south an hour and hit broken-up young ice with soft snow in
between. The moon is about one-quarter on the wane and it was slightly
misty. After numerous tip-overs because of increasing darkness, we camped.
Our load is rather heavy and the dogs soft from inaction. We lost one of
our two ice picks and a pot lid. Rather a bad start."
The diary entries at this time are lengthy and full of
details that will all be printed in a later book narrative, but here we can note
only the most significant points. On January 8th, Knight says, "In all,
we have about thirty days' rations and by then we should be in Siberia" -
a more than reasonable estimate as Bartlett was known to them to have made
the same journey from Wrangell to the Siberian settlements in twelve days.
The food was pilot bread, dried meat and seal's fat, with four new sealskins
with fat attached - the last a form of dog feed that we frequently use, a
"balanced ration" for the hide gives the protein and the attached fat the
carbohydrate. The load was 700 lbs. in addition to the sledge.
The entries for the first few days are of routine nature. |
EN