120 THE JE ANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



I returned about midnight to Ballock, and to Upper Buluii 

 the next day, November 15th, during a heavy storm. Was 

 obliged to wait there two days to rest and feed the dogs. 

 During this time I overhauled everything obtained in the 

 cache, and the following is a correct list, viz. : 



One box containing refuse medical stores; one box of 

 small articles (mess-gear); one box for navigation books 

 and sextant ; one box chronometer ; two tin cases containing 

 four log-books ; two cook-stoves ; two pieces of rope ; seven 

 old sleeping-bags, condemned ; one lot of old clothing (worn 

 out) ; one Winchester rifle ; one repeating rifle (both bro- 

 ken) ; one boat-breaker; one boat-bucket; one box speci- 

 mens from Bennett Island. 



Some of these articles were left at Upper Bulun, and the 

 others were taken to Yakutsk. There was no list of articles 

 found in the cache, but record No. 1 was found in the navi- 

 gation-box. 



On November 17th I left Upper Bulun with fish for ten 

 days' food, and with three dog-teams driven by three natives. 

 I visited the place at which DeLong's party crossed the 

 Lena, and traced the party to Sisteraneck, from which place 

 I wished to search for the hut in which Erickson died ; but 

 there was a storm raging, and the natives insisted on return- 

 ing to either Bulun or Upper Bulun, because there was a 

 lack of food and the dogs refused to work. We had only 

 raw frozen fish to eat, so I determined to return to Bulun, 

 and arrived there November 27th, in a nearly exhausted 

 condition feet, hands, legs and face badly frost-bitten- 

 having been ten days in a continuous storm, remaining two 

 nights and one day in one hole in a snow-bank without shel- 

 ter of any kind. 



From my knowledge of the country, and from the evidence 

 of Noros and Nindermann, I am convinced that Lieutenant 

 DcLong and party are somewhere to the westward of the 

 Lena, and between Sisteraneck and Bulcour, which are sep- 

 arated by an extent of about one hundred and fifty versts of 

 a barren and desolate region, devoid of sustenance. To 



