stefansson-wrangel-09-32-017v

240 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

widely. The maximum this day was three degrees be-
low zero and the minimum twenty below.

The entries during the latter half of November and
early December are generally repetitions of three items.
Trapping was going on energetically and a fox was caught
every now and then; bear tracks were occasionally seen,
but no bears were secured; the seamstress was “busy
making skin clothing for Crawford and me” for the pro-
posed trip to Nome.

On November 29th Knight says: “Feeding the dogs
bear skin and blubber,” from which it is probable that
the people themselves had only fresh meat ahead for a
week or two and were once more beginning to live in con-
siderable part on groceries—although this is not men-
tioned. The diary contains no thermometer records
after the beginning of December, but we gather that the
weather was warmer with more snow falling. During
November Knight frequently complains of the lack of
snow which made sledging difficult, but these complaints
disappear in December. On the 5th it was warm and
there was a slight fall of rain, probably about two or three
degrees above freezing, which is not a very rare occur-
rence in the Arctic where one may expect a slight thaw
once or twice in each midwinter, no matter what part of
the Arctic it is.

To those familiar with the “inside stories” of many
arctic and antarctic expeditions, one of the most remark-
able and creditable things about the Wrangel Island
story is that in a diary obviously frank, even to a fault,
there are no disagreements or recriminations after the
first few days on the island. In the account of the voyage
from Nome to Wrangel Knight mentions that Galle was
not doing his full share of the work, but later he explains