108 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



chief or his people understand what we wanted to know, 

 and after an hour's effort, backed by charts and all sorts 

 of pantomime, we had to give it up and let the natives 

 go ashore. I could not leave it like this, so I deter- 

 mined to wait until daylight, send Chipp in again to 

 make a landing if possible, and look for any traces of 

 white men having been there. 



August oOth, Saturday. — At three a. m. Lieutenant 

 Chipp went in shore in the whaleboat, accompanied by 

 Mr. Dunbar and Alexey, as also by Mr. Collins. This 

 time a landing was effected, and by great good luck a 

 satisfactory result was obtained. Upon entering the 

 chief's hut another attempt was made to make him un- 

 derstand what we were after, without avail. By a 

 happy inspiration an old squaw^ was brought forward 

 (who came originally from somewhere in the neighbor- 

 hood of King's Island), and it was found that Alexey 

 and she could understand each other. From that time 

 forward all was plain saiHng. The story heard at St. 

 Lawrence Bay was repeated in detail, — the steamer 

 having stopped here also one day and then gone home. 

 " Horpish " seemed to be equally well known here. 

 Following Chipp's return on board came the chief and 

 his tribe, including the old squaw, and we had the story 

 over again, with the addition that the steamer had win- 

 tered on the east side of Koliutchin Bay, had built a 

 house, (an observatory ?) which she took down and car- 

 ried away on leaving. Times and dates we could not 

 get at, nor names, except the never-failing "Horpish." 



If Nordenskjold had left any kind of a written paper 

 at St. Lawrence Bay, or at this place, it would have 

 saved much uncertainty ; but as he had no uneasiness 

 about his situation, and of course knew nothing about 

 the excitement in Europe and America, his not leaving 



