PAPERS PRESENTED AT GENERAL SESSIONS 57 



ity, naturally, is the law of the land, and even in a house 

 where the owner is away, a traveler may take what he 

 wants, with the only obligation to leave the place in good 

 condition with some food for the next fellow traveler. 

 Deserted towns as well as houses are not rare. Shelton 

 was a town on our home journey, and from the hill it 

 looked to be quite populous with some dozen fine frame 

 houses, and even two-story homes. But on our arrival 

 we found it occupied by only two men, and both of them 

 were transients ! 



Our journey of two months ended on July 30th when 

 we crossed the Arctic Divide and saw the red mud roof 

 of our cabin shining in the sunlight on a limestone hill 

 that was part of Kougarok Mountain. It is a simple 

 little cabin built of planks and made secure by bricks of 

 peat. Within, its walls are made picturesque by paper- 

 ing of old magazine covers and pages of ancient date, 

 so that one can read the early Saturday Evening Post 

 stories of Mary Eoberts Ehinehart as one eats. The fur- 

 nishings are home-made things of board, with typical 

 cabin "bunks" for beds and only benches to sit on. But 

 there is the real luxury of a good stove with an oven that 

 bakes bread exactly right if you watch it carefully. At 

 first our cabin was damp and dismal with green mold 

 covering wood and paper and fur robes ; but fires and air 

 cleared it out; fresh new curtains at the deepset square 

 windows, and the few deft touches of my Aunt very soon 

 made of our shack a cabin home. 



Life is busy in house-keeping under primitive condi- 

 tions. Fires made with willow twigs soon go out, and 

 three substantial meals a day are necessities for vigorous, 

 pioneer life. Nor are there stores nearby! The dried 

 stuff and canned goods brought in must furnish all the 

 food requirements, and bread must be made, and fresh 

 meat killed. For our meat we lived on ptarmigan, with 

 one delicious sandhill crane, and some reindeer that was 

 given to us for variety. And in addition to the neces- 

 sities of life, for a Botanist the identification of the 

 countless new species of plants on the tundra is a lure 

 which urges him to work with all the haste of civilization, 

 even in this remote corner of the globe. 



