342 MELVILLE FINDS REMAINS OF BELONG PARTY 



with a native guide and a dog team in search of the castaways. On 

 November ist he received from the commandant at Bulem a good 

 supply of bread, deer-meat and tea, and also a paper written by the 

 two rescued seamen and addressed to the American Minister at St. 

 Petersburg. These were forwarded by the lieutenant to Melville, 

 and he quickly followed his messenger, overtaking Melville at the 

 first deer station. 



We may finish here the story of Lieutenant Danenhower, who 

 was now directed by Melville to proceed to Yakutsk, twelve hundred 

 miles away. This place he reached on December i/th, and received 

 there three despatches from the Secretary of the Navy. In return 

 he advised the Secretary of the state of affairs and requested per- 

 mission to search for Lieutenant Chipp's party. This permission 

 was granted, but was afterwards revoked on account of the condi- 

 tion of his health, and he was directed to return to the United States. 

 He reached there in February, 1882. 



Before proceeding with the account of Melville's search, the 

 story of Nindemann and Noros, as related to him by them, must be 

 told. On the Qth of October DeLong had sent them out in advance, 

 saying to Nindemann: "I think you have to go only twelve miles 

 to a settlement called Kumarksurka, and you and Noros can find it 

 in three days, or, at the longest, four. Do the best you can ; if you 

 find assistance come back as quick as possible; and if you do not, 

 you are as well off as we are." 



Starting off with a cheer from their comrades and a copy of the 

 captain's chart, the two men pushed forward with all possible speed. 

 On the first day they dined on a ptarmigan, killed by them ; on the 

 second their food consisted of a bootsole soaked in water and burned 

 to a crust, with tea made from the Arctic willow. The remaining 

 bootsole served them on the nth, but on the I2th they were more 

 fortunate, for, while gathering some drift-wood, Noros found 

 beneath it two fishes and Nindemann caught a lemming. During 

 the next eight days they had little to eat beyond portions of a pair 



