Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-25
WOMAN SH0OTS29
BEARS IN POLAR ICE
Miss Boyd, American, Is Pho.
neer of Her Sex in Franz
Josef Land.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, September 25.-EXperi
enced polar hunters doff their hats
to Miss Louise A. Boyd of San Rafael
Calf, who has returned to London
after a six-week trip into the Arctic.
To Miss Boyd belongs the distinc-
ton of having been the first woman
to set foot upon desolate Franz Josef
Land, to which she made the voyage
on Roald Amundsen's old supply ship
Hobby. With Miss Boyd were Miss
Janet Coleman Of San Francisco and
Count and Countess Rivadavia, friends
of King Alfonso of Spain.
From the eightieth degree northern
latitude Miss Boyd returned with the
she shot in one day. This, it is con-
sidered, is enough to turn envious any
Arctic hunter.
Her Exploits Recounted.
West End hotel, the slim American,
clad in modish knee-length dress of
black georgette, told the Associated
Press story of Arctic exploits. which
would do credit to any male big-game
hunter.
Miss Boyd chartered the Hobby to
carry her game shooting party of four
into the ice fields beyond SpiNbergen.
The Hobby sailed from Tromsoe July
20. The vessel kept northeasterly
course between SpitZbergen and Nova
Zembla in the ice-flled sea where
shipping rarely penetrateS
Fogs, ice and storms alternated
until August Is, when land was first
sighted. It was Bell Island. one of
the Franz Josef group. The Hobby
nosed her way through leads in the
ice in Nightingale Sound until at 80
degrees &c minutes the vessel was
forced by an Arctic ice barrier to
turn back
Traces of Italians.
The Hobby then skirted Prince
Georges Land and the party made a
landing at Cape Flora. where a large
stone marked the sojourn of an earlier
italian geodetic survey expedition.
1.-The islands here" said Miss Boyd,
with their dome-shaped, glacier-cov-
cred mountains, were in remarkable
contrast to Spitzbergen's Jagged peaks.
But even here the brief Arctic Sum-
mer brings forth vegetation. In shell
tered spots were plenty of white and
yellow flowers of the anemone ranun-
culus family blooming and the islands
were positively alive with gulis.
There was no sign Of any other life.
Nothing remained Of the huts erected
80 years ago by the Jackson-11arms-
worth expedition.
"Our best shooting was between the
18th and 10th degrees. There l got
- +n1 So
Rivadavia shot a giant weighing more
than 1000 pounds. Mine only aver
aged 800 pounds"
Kills One at 40 Yards.
Miss Boyd told modestly of her
achievement in killing an Infatuated
bear at a range Of 40 yards.
TT was a lucky shot in the
throat" she said, but had narrow
escape Bears move at an incredibly
fast pace once they are charging
over the ice and the great thing for
a person to do is to keep cool"
"The party captured five cubs
alive. Count Rivadavia will present
one of them to King Alfonso. The
others will be given to a continental
menagerie. Seals were scarce. Only
three came under the guns of the
party. A few whales were seen
spout1ng.'
Miss Boyd said her only disap-
pointment during the trip was the
entire absence of the walrus. which
the party had hoped to hunt.
Women Well Clad.
The women of the party wore high
boots, breeches. sweaters and heavy
coats and fur capes with ear flaps
as a protection against frostbite.
The temperature. however, did not
tall below II degrees of frost.
Fahrenheit. For days the ship was
encased in a pinch coating of ice.
The worst part of the trip came
after a fruitless attempt to land on
Hope Island. lonely rock southeast
IF Spitzbergen. The storm tossed
Hobby had perilous voyage back to
Tromsoe through the Arctic night
which had set in after August "a.
Miss Boyd took $1,000 feet of film
beside 700 photographs Of Arctic
scenery. She has sent her bear
skins back to her home in California
She plans an extended tour of the
continent.
Il shall be sailing for sunny Cali
| fornia at the end of October or early
| in November" said Miss Boyd. but
| l revel in the cold. have got the
Arctic lure and will certainly &C
North again."