260 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



were in good condition, but my left eye was completely dis- 

 abled, and the right one was suffering by sympathy. One 

 man was insane and had to be kept under restraint, and 

 Leach was disabled slightly with frozen feet. 



Melville started north from Yakutsk January 27th, taking 

 with him Bartlett and Nindermaim Nindermann because 

 he was one of the men who had last seen the captain, and 

 Bartlett because he had picked up a little Russian and could 

 get along first rate with the natives. Most of the men would 

 have been worse than useless, because they could not have 

 made themselves understood, and would have had to bo 

 waited on by the natives. 



At Yakutsk, Melville received the first despatch from the 

 Secretary of the Navy, which ordered him to send the sick 

 and frozen to a milder climate. So he ordered me to pro- 

 ceed with the whole party to Irkutsk, and thence to the At- 

 lantic seaboard. At Irkutsk I received despatches from the 

 department ordering me to remain and continue the search, 

 but I was quite unable to do so. After 'the long excitement of 

 our life in the north my eyes began to trouble me more and 

 more, and having got cold in them during the sledge journey 

 from Yakutsk to Irkutsk, I was compelled to seek profes- 

 sional advice. The two oculists whom I consulted told me 

 that my left eye was ruined, and should be taken out to pre- 

 vent the right one from being constantly affected ; that I 

 should not read or write, and should not leave here until the 

 right eye was in a better condition. The reports of the ocu- 

 lists about my right eye were at first very encouraging, and 

 that was why I proposed to the department to charter the 

 steamer Lena, in order to make a spring search for Chipp. 

 I also asked for two officers to be sent to assist, thinking 

 that if my right eye broke down there would then be some- 

 body here to take my place. 



Melville told me every detail of his trip of twenty-three 

 days from Bulun. He says he has traced the captain's party 

 as far as a summer hunting station called Sisteranek, on the 

 west bank of the Lena, and that the party must be some- 



