stefansson-wrangel-09-38-004-012a

-12 -

before the outside world would, receive word of them.
But every day that elapses without word makes more remote
the possibility of their having attempted this plan.

The odds, according to those who know the north,
favor their being safe on their island home. "Wait”
seems to have been the watchword of Wrangel Island in
the past, and at the present juncture it seems to be
about as potent as ever.

In the interval Vilhjalmur Stefansson has continued
negotiations with the Canadian government. In the mean
time, too, advances have been made in aerial navigation.
The United States is building a giant dirigible which is
expected to circumnavigate the globe, from north to south,
as well as from east to west, and quite recently the
continent has been spanned in a non-stop aeroplane flight.
The day of inierhemispherean air traffic, which has long
been foreseen by the few, in becoming evident, and the
value of Arctic islands as possible aerial stations be-
comes daily more apparent.