CHAPTER VII. 



FIKST TIDINGS FROM THE EXPLORERS. 



A LMOST two and one-half years had elapsed since the 

 -^-JL sailing of the Jeannette, when, near the close of the 

 year 1881, dispatches from an inland Siberian city, coming 

 nearly ten thousand miles by. telegraph and cable, via St. 

 Petersburg, London, and Paris, were received by the New 

 York Herald, as follows : 



LONDON, December 20th, 1881. 



The Central News' London correspondent has called at 

 the Herald office, and has given us a copy of a telegram 

 from the Central Neu*s' St. Petersburg correspondent, which 

 reads as follows : 



"Gouverncur SibeVie Orientale annonce bateau polaire 

 Americain Jeannette trou,ve'. Equipage secouru." 



[The Governor of Eastern Siberia announces that the 

 American polar vessel Jeannette has been found, and that 

 its crew has been saved.] 



PARIS, December 20th, 1881. 



Our St. Petersburg correspondent telegraphs this morning, 

 that General Ignatieff has just received the following tele- 

 gram, which I transcribe literally : 



"IRKUTSK, Dec. 19th, 6.55 p. M. 



" The Governor of Yakutsk writes, that on the 14th of 

 September three natives of Hagan Oulouss de Zigane, at 

 Cape Barhay, 140 versts north of Cape Bykoff, discovered a 

 large boat with eleven survivors from the shipwrecked 

 steamer Jeannette. They had suffered greatly. The Adjunct 

 of Chief of the District was immediately charged to proceed 

 with a doctor and medicines to succor the survivors at 

 Yakutsk, and to search for the rest of the shipwrecked 



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