NOROS'S LETTER. 135 



ship was crushed on June llth, 1881. While being held 

 fast in our icy cradle we had a good time hunting bears, 

 seals, walrus, and other game. We frequently had face, 

 nose, and cars frozen, but thought nothing of it, as we had 

 got used to the climate. 



After the ship went down we had a hundred days of hard 

 dragging and sailing in open boats. On the night of Sep- 

 tember 13th we had a gale of wind, and the boats got sepa- 

 rated. The boat that I was in was the captain's boat. We 

 had fourteen men and dogs, and were loaded quite deep. 

 When we reached the Siberian coast we could not land on 

 the beach from boats. We had to wade through ice and 

 water up to our waists. We were nearly all day carrying 

 our things to shore, and it was dark before we got through. 

 This was on September 17th. On the 19th we commenced 

 our march. We traveled until October 6th, when one of our 

 men died from frozen limbs. We had killed and eaten 

 our last dog on that day. 



On October 9th the captain sent Nindermann and myself 

 on ahead to look for assistance and food, none of the party 

 having had anything to eat for two days. We started with- 

 out a particle of food. I had a pair of sealskin trousers. 

 We cut pieces from these and chewed them until we were 

 found by the natives. We were so weak we could hardly 

 stand. I believe that if we had had to endure our sufferings 

 for two days longer we would have shot ourselves. The 

 natives took us to their camp and gave us plenty to cat and 

 drink. The result was we were both quite sick for some 

 time. We were taken to a village, and from there to Bulun. 



At Bulun we tried to get a telegram sent, but could not 

 make them understand. We supposed that we were the 

 only two men alive out of the whole expedition. Then we 

 heard of a boat's crew landing at one of the mouths of the 

 Lena. The boat proved to be Melville's, and as soon as they 

 learned of our arrival at Bulun they joined us at that place, 

 so there were thirteen of us alive." 



Wbile at Irkutsk, Mr. Jackson, the Herald correspondent, 



