436 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



Oogarkin to Erktreen, a native village of nineteen houses, 

 near Cape Chelagskoi, there were no houses, and we slept 

 three nights on the snow. Drift wood was plentiful, and in 

 ordinary weather camping out would not have been as "dis- 

 agreeable as might be supposed. 



We found several people at Eumatk, near Oogarkin, who 

 were on their w T ay to Nishni Kolymsk, and on the morning 

 of February 8, eight sleds, drawn by ninety-three dogs, 

 started. It was a brilliant sight, or would have been, if you 

 could have seen it ; but the start was at four o'clock in the 

 morning, about three hours and a half before daylight. 

 Some of the sleds had gaudy calico storm coats thrown over 

 them, and the harness of several teams was trimmed with 

 red. One man had several small bells attached to his 

 harness, but I never heard a sound from them, and doubt 

 that they had tongues. I believe they were dumb bells, and 

 intended solely for ornament. 



It was a pleasant day at first, but during the afternoon a 

 storm of wind and snow sprang up from the direction of 

 our line of march, and when we halted at night it was blow- 

 ing a gale a genuine poorga which continued throughout 

 the night and following day. When I lay down to sleep I 

 sought shelter behind a shed, but soon had to leave it because 

 I found myself nearly suffocated by the weight of snow on 

 top of me. Then I noticed the natives, more wise than I, 

 had lain down on the crest of the hill and were free from 

 snow. Traveling the next day was simply torture, but it 

 would have been equally bad to sit still out of doors, so we 

 kept on. The night was a pleasant one and we slept well. 



The next halt was on the rocky coast not a great distance 

 from Chelagskoi, and a huge cavern in the face of the cliff 

 afforded small protection from the wind, but made a most 

 picturesque camping place. The following day we reached 

 Erktreen, and right glad we were, for a frightful poorga was 

 raging and the dogs could scarcely make any headway 

 against it. There were plenty of houses here, and but little 



