stefansson-wrangel-09-31-118r

THE FIRST AUTUMN ON WRANGEL ISLAND 193

howl. Rushing out of the tent we saw a large bear with
a cub to the east of the camp. They had heard the dogs
and were of the opinion that they had lost nothing about
this camp. Therefore, they were rapidly leaving. Craw-
ford and Galle followed and it is now 11 P. M. and they
have not returned. Later: The boys arrived at mid-
night, reporting that they had been to the east fifteen
miles and had apparently found Rodgers Harbor. They
killed a female bear with two cubs.”

Knight does not tell us the exact date upon which
enough snow fell for sledging, but this was evidently
sometime after the 10th of October, for on that day he
says: “This morning Galle went eastward to the three
bears killed, intending to bring back a ham from one of
the cubs, but he returned with the information that the
cubs had been nearly all eaten by the foxes. Hitched
up the dogs for exercise, but did not go far for lack of
snow.” This entry reminds us again of the optimistic
feeling which the whole party evidently shared with
Knight that there was no particular need for saving what
meat they had. The inference from “the cubs had been
nearly all eaten by the foxes” is that the meat of the old
bear, less palatable no doubt, but still good dog feed, was
as yet uneaten, and still they neither carried it home on
their backs nor hauled it home on the sledge, a thing that
can be done even when snow is absent. Galle had gone
to fetch cub meat merely because they thought it would
be a change in their diet and he seems to have returned
without any meat at all just because the most palatable
parts were missing. We emphasize this because it shows
again how firm they were in their optimism.

October 11th was “rather a good day for us. About
1:30 P.M Galle saw a bear to the north of camp. He