GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



tunately the latter were never developed into a book. Wulff 

 is surely the last explorer to see and study the Aino people at a 

 time when results were yet to be obtained ; he himself used to 

 emphasize that the collector who followed him would have to 

 leave without achieving anything. 



Subsequently he journeyed via Sumatra to Java, where he 

 was also making collections, especially on the two little islands 

 Bali and Lombock, where he found himself at the outbreak of 

 the World War, and from which he commenced his return 

 journey in the beginning of October on board the Swedish 

 steamer Nipon. 



In the spring of 1916 he put his name down as a member of 

 the second Thule Expedition to North Greenland, and on this 

 expedition he made the greatest sacrifice to science which a 

 man can make. 



The letter Wulff sent me through Koch was a detailed Last 

 Will — concerning partly his botanical results, partly his house 

 and property in Stockholm. 



It begins thus : 



" The constant hunger and toil of the summer and the 

 almost absolute lack of food of the last two days have caused 

 such a decrease in my physical strength that even by summon- 

 ing all my will-power I am unable to follow Koch and the 

 Eskimos further. As their salvation depends upon the pos- 

 sibility of reaching better hunting-ground as speedily as 

 possible, it will merely be a weight on the party if I drag on 

 further. With perfect peace of mind I therefore say Good- 

 bye, thanking you all for good comradeship on the expedition, 

 and hoping that you will be able to save yourselves and our 

 results." 



Deeply moved, I read these resigned words of farewell, 

 which in their simplicity had over them the great final solem- 

 nity. Truly they expressed a man's open and calm glance at 

 death. To the last he had been engaged in getting the most 

 possible out of his work. A holy fire had kept fresh and 

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