118 THE LENA DELTA 



On the 9th of October De Long sent two of the sea- 

 men, Nindemann and Noros, ahead in search of relief. 

 They had no food but what they could find, and on the 

 second day out their dinner consisted of a little willow 

 tea and a burnt boot sole. Next morning they burnt 

 another sole of a boot, and they spent the day strug- 

 gling through a morass in drifting snow, crossing 

 streams of all sizes, and halting for the night in so high 

 a wind that they were unable to light a fire and took 

 refuge in a hole in the snow from which they emerged 

 with difficulty in the morning, owing to the wind having 

 piled up the snow against the opening. At the end of 

 the third day they reached a deserted hut in which 

 were some deer bones, which they grilled and tried to 

 eat, and in the morning a gale was blowing and the 

 wild drifting snow was so thick that they had to remain 

 where they were and continue their diet of charred 

 bones and willow tea. 



Next day, Thursday, the 13th of October, they 

 began against a strong head wind. In the afternoon 

 they sighted a hut on the west bank of the river. 

 " They had seen one in the morning, but had in vain 

 attempted to cross the ice to it. Now they tried to 

 reach this, but were turned back by the brittle ice. 

 They kept it in sight as they moved southward, and 

 made another attempt to cross the ice, but it broke and 

 they came back. Then they saw that there was no 

 further progress possible to the southward on that side 

 of the water, and they returned to the ice. It broke 

 again, but they kept on. They went in up to their 

 waists, but managed to pull themselves up on the 

 stronger ice." The wind was blowing against them 



