Nome tri-weekly nugget., 1919-03-07
(cont;n'; "n Wednesdays issue)

While tral ping down the coast. a large bear came to Ungoruks cabin, roof and took look into the interior after breaking the gut covering. Un-
 goruk's wife had no gun, Ungoruk having one hunting on the ice So. re- sourceful as these people are in en- ergencies of this kind, she set fire to some old rags and stood him off for q half hour or so with q smudge-lilke we do with the hungry Yukon skeeters One thing. aye. two. can be said in favor of q mosQuito-it comes into the world With it's mouth open and stricks to it's business while here and he is a most proficient driller Once while the mosquitoes were near ly eating us alive, an Eskimo asked me a difficut question: What him good for; what him made for? had to reply that really did not know.
 Polar Bear are tricky and shrewd hunters. Will just mention one of their slick ways of catching seal which often times are very difficult for him to get. owing to unfavorable ced to prolonged seasons of total ab- stinence. blizzards covering the seal blow holes with snow and ice packed in hard and of great thickness-not a propitious environment for him to secure his staple diet-seal--from While such conditions obtain, locating q blow hole. he will proceed to make use of his powerful and sharp claws by carefully scratching away the ice around the hole for quite distance, until it is quite thin but not broken through. Having completed his preparations, he takes up his position on the lee side and patiently awaits the coming of the seal to get fresh air. The moment the seals nose appears, the bear will go into and through that thin ice ice like a shot. head first. and escape.
 Mr. Bear is good and wet but is generally protected by a heavy coating of fat and. although it is min us 50, he does not freeze. He shakes and rolls few times and he is dry The slush ice which has already formed on his coat when he strikes the air after immersion is easily removed from polar bear hair. This is one thing that makes it desirable above all Arctic fur for mittens and the seats" the seal hunters have suspended from their belts in the rear to sit down on when on the ice shouting seal. espec- ially if the ice is young. Such ice is generally wet. (An Eskimo as- sumes sitting position almost in- VarlaDly when SnOOtlnS WltE a flIe, unless it is intensely colD.- The lat ter being the case the salt which pre- cipitates on the surface is generally turned into beautiful crystals, some times called 'ice flowers"-a inagni- ficient sight when the sun shines on them. The famous Tower of Jew els" at the San Francisco fair was in- significant in comparison.
 The first news for over four months from the outside world reached us December 24th. What on earth has struck the natives! From the hign- est banks of drifted snow, they clap and dance and shout for joy! They hear the Kaiser is dead and that the Allies have whipped the Germans! Joy unbounded! But. simultaneous with the glorious intelligence, comes the heart rending news that a fearful epidemic is extant; has reached our coast and many countrymen and friends have succumbed to it's fatal ravages.
 Our news is very fragmentary.owing to the quarantine the wise precaution ary measures taken at Nome and else-