C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

198 Appendix 1doctor." Vyvyan attempted to standardize and correct placenames in writing her book, and left out some of the storiesrecorded in the field notes. Descriptions of communities areoften condensed, perhaps because, after so long, Vyvyan wasmore interested in character and wilderness than in the settlements,or was unable to distinguish among them any longer.The published narrative also had to balance local colour withthe geographical movement of the narrative in order to avoidhaving the travel overburdened by anecdote and incident.When she wrote her book, Vyvyan seems to have had littleinterest in updating her material historically. More importantto her than the facts and details recorded in the field noteswere the impressions evoked by the wilderness; accordingly, thebook is structured in terms of geography and event rather thanin terms of daily entry. This restructuring means that materialappears differently in the narrative. Of a fairly incidentalsignificance is the attribution of information to differentcharacters in the narrative than in the field notes, such as whenVyvyan attributes the description of Hudson Stuck to Dr Burke(above, 171), whereas it was Harry Anthony who told her thatStuck was "a man who did all his own thinking. You could handhim nothing" (25]uly). Diction becomes more formal in thetransition to publication; the six "scally-wags" on the jury inAklavik (24]une) become "a collection of the toughest ruffiansimaginable" (60), and the "comic opera" of steamer landingsin the field notes becomes "some scene in a ballet" (48).Details of travel are also moved, simplified, or combined totighten the story; thus, on the trip across Great Slave Lake, theSS Distributor ties up at both Mission Island (I4-15]uly) andGreen Island (I6July) in the field notes, but only oneunnamed island is described in the book, and it draws onelements from both field note entries. Similarly, the caribousighted the morning of 19]uly and the wolf tracks recorded on2I]uly are conflated in the book into one night's observations(148-49). In another example, the "King William land Eskimolong haired man of the woods" who performs the seal dancewith Ikagena in Aklavik after the murder trial (24june) disappearsfrom the book, and Ikagena himself, who, "with his longhair and strange face, seemed to us like a wild man of thewoods" (58), performs the dance alone.Of more significance, and perhaps in the service ofpropriety when entering the public arena, Vyvyan's indictmentsof the HBC's exploitation of its northern customers (27june) do not appear in the published narrative, and her negativedescriptions of the northern churches and their appeal tothe indigenous peoples are tempered. As well, many of thestrong female figures met by Vyvyan and Dorrien Smith playno part in the published narrative, which portrays the northmore conventionally as a place for male adventure in thewilderness. Miss Ross, the nurse at Fort McMurray (3]une),and Mrs Burgland, who is raising a family in a one-roomAlaskan cabin (28July), seem to have inspired the women withadmiration, but cannot be found in the book. Mrs LauraF razeur survives in the book as a previous traveller, but is notconnected with the anonymous woman who was abandoned byher guides and who so haunts Vyvyan's relations with Sittichinliand Koe.Creating a story, where tension and doubt are overcome bythe women's steadfast resolve, thus produces changes in thematerial. The playful question, on 9july, "Has the Rat a spiteagainst us?" is heightened in the narrative to musings about the"malignant" Rat (39, 108). The field notes underplay thewomen's doubts as they prepare for the journey; the narrativeuses their doubts for aesthetic purposes, to engage the readerin their undertaking. In the field note entry recording SgtAnderton's encouragement for their endeavour, Vyvyan celebrateshis knowledge and judgement as being "So differentfrom Winnipeg + SS. Distributor croakers," and notes that, inthe context of other northern exploits, their own adventureappears" smaller," less risky (27 June); with the adventure stillahead of them, Vyvyan considers it a reasonable, manageableundertaking for two inexperienced travellers. In the book,where their adventure is the centre of the story, Vyvyan'sperspective emphasizes how significant it actually was in relationto their inexperience, which she suggests Andertonunderrated (74-5). It is not that one version or the other ismore "true," but that, having accomplished the journey,looking back from a lifetime of travel, Vyvyan sees the experiencedifferently from that earlier self, who was preparing,psychologically and physically, to face the Rat River.Editorial notes concerning the field notes will be foundcollated with the notes to the chapters of the book; they comeafter the last note to each chapter and are arranged so that theyappear under whichever chapter covers the events of theirrespective dates.In this presentation of the field notes, the form of the datedheadings has been standardized, but spelling and punctuationremain as they are in the original. Where they vary substantively