A SEARCH FOR DK LONG. 255 



evidently had to have somebody to back him and to assist 

 him as a witness, and he therefore, very naturally, took 

 with him the chief of the natives, though he first proposed 

 to take me. He said that it made no difference in time if 

 one should accompany him. 



The next morning I told Melville that before Kusmah left 

 he should be particularly enjoined to spread the news of the 

 two missing; boats among the natives everywhere he went, 



^J CJ v 



and I said I would like to run over to his house to give him 

 those orders. Melville consented. I went down to Nicolai 

 Shagra's to get a dog team, and while there Spiridon hove 

 in sight with a fine team of nine dogs. I immediately took 

 possession of him and his team, and drove over to Kusmah' s 

 house, where I had a long interview, during which I went 

 over the charts with him again. On this occasion he told 

 me positively that Barkin was only fifty versts northeast of 

 his house, and I immediately determined to go there to seek 

 for traces of the missing boats. I went back to Melville 

 and told him what I wanted to do. He did not assent to the 

 proposal at first, but finally agreed. While at Kusmah's I 

 wrote a line to my brother in Washington, and gave it to 

 Kusmah to mail at Bulun. My eye would not permit writ- 

 ing much. 



I took ni}- rifle and sleeping bag, put them on Spiridon's 

 sled, and pointed toward his village. He seemed very much 

 astonished, but finally obeyed, and started homeward. On 

 reaching his house 1 had a consultation with him and Car- 

 anie, and tried to get them to consent to take me to Barkin 

 next morning. But they said that the loos-byral that is, 

 posh-ice would prevent them from going, and that it was 

 impossible to go there at that time of the year. We then 

 had supper, after which I hunted up old Cut-eared W'assili, 

 and he consented to take me to Kahoomah, which Kamican 



' . 



said was to the northwest of us. If I could not go to Bar- 

 kin, I was glad at any rate to go to the northwest to search 

 in that quarter and to spread the news. 



The next morning Wassili, Kapucan, and I started with 



