CHAPTER XIX. 



NINDEMANN AND NOROS. 



9 October — 2 November, 1881. 



Captain De Long's Instructions. — They start on their Forced March 

 to the Southward. — They shoot a Ptarmigan and miss Deer. — 

 Arctic Willow Tea and Boot-soles. — Camping in the Snow. — Loss 

 of Alcohol. — A Hut. — Refuge from the Storm. — Struggling 

 against the Wind. — Crossing Streams. — Another Hut, and a 

 Burial Place. — Camping in a Crevice. — Reduced to Seal-skin 

 from Pantaloons. — Making for the Mountains. — Miserable Shel- 

 ter. — A Deserted Settlement, — A Needed Refuge. — Discovered 

 by a Native. — Carried to a Camp. — Their Journey Southward. — 

 Impossibility of Communication. — Ku Mark Surka. — Bulun. — 

 The Telegraphic Message. — The Appearance of Chief-Engineer 

 Melville. 



The brief record in which Captain De Long recites 

 the experience of his party after landing upon the coast 

 is so calm and reserved, that the reader may easily fail 

 to recognize some of the extreme hardships which were 

 endured, and the difficulties which assailed the men. 

 So weak were they after their terrible exposure in the 

 boat that they could not raise their legs to break 

 through the young ice when wading to the shore, but 

 were compelled to push through it as they moved feebly 

 along. The land moreover on which they landed was 

 a vast morass, which afforded no sure foothold. When 

 the weather was mild the surface was spongy and wet ; 

 when the frost seized the ground, or snow fell, the walk- 

 51 



