740 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



maun brought in some fashioned pieces of wood, and a 

 hoop from a fish keg. I am inclined to think we are at 

 the Walakatina River. Leach came in at six, and re- 

 ported that he had crossed the neck which we are on, 

 and gone along its south side a couple of miles, where 

 he had found a hut built of logs, with rags stuck in the 

 chinks, and an elephant tusk ; we saw, also, some smaller 

 pieces of ivory. As the ice was closely pressed in 

 shore, no passage offered for a boat, but as he was 

 leaving, the wind shifted to northwest, and the ice com- 

 menced to slack off again. Alexey then came in. He 

 brought in from this hut a wooden drinking-cup, a 

 wooden spoon, a wooden fork, an elephant tusk, and a 

 small Russian coin, a copeck of the elate 1840. So 

 somebody has been here since Sannikov. Mr. Collins 

 made a sketch of the hut, and of its surroundings. By 

 eight p. m. a nice breeze from N. W. had sprung up. 

 The barometer was at 29.85 at 41°, and the temper- 

 ature 28°. 



September §th, Tuesday. — Called all hands at five. 

 Breakfasted at six. Light W. breeze. Temperature 25°. 

 Underway at 7.10, and proceeded very well until 10.30 

 (say six miles after rounding the point of the sand spit 

 and keeping away to the southward), when we were 

 brought up by the ice reaching in to the shore, and 

 leaving no lane for us to advance in. We turned back 

 to look for a chance off-shore lead, but none offered, 

 and there seemed but one of two things left to do : 

 either to drag our boats over the land, or wait for the 

 ice to slack off. Unwilling further to strain the boats 

 or tire the men, I concluded to wait for the effect of 

 a freshening wind. Meanwhile I sent away the men 

 with guns, and took advantage of the delay to visit the 

 hut seen by Mr. Collins yesterday. It was quite a^n 



