818 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



a couple of deer-skin tents, and fires could be seen 

 burning. 



The natives took Nindemann into one tent and Noros 

 into the other, and gave them some boiled venison. 

 There were seven men and three women in the party. 

 One of the women seeing the forlorn condition in 

 which Nindemann was offered him water to wash. He 

 washed his hands, but they were so bent and sharp 

 that they were more like claws than hands, and he 

 found himself unable to wash his face, so that the 

 woman took pity on him and washed it for him. The 

 people gave the sailors more venison and fish, and they 

 in their turn tried to tell their story and their errand. 

 At first the people seemed to attend, but presently they 

 were curious to know what the sailors had about them, 

 and if they had any money. Nindemann tried to make 

 them understand that they had plenty of money in the 

 ship, that the ship had gone down, but that if the men 

 would help them, they should have plenty. It was im- 

 possible to say how far they were understood. 



It was late in the night before the people in the tents 

 disposed themselves for sleep, and in the morning when 

 Nindemann awoke it was daylight, and breakfast was 

 prepared. Again he tried to make them understand 

 his wishes, but in vain ; and after breakfast, while the 

 rest were out catching the reindeer, he found the man 

 who seemed to be the head of the party, and drew in 

 the snow a chart of the places where he had been, 

 making signs all the time, sometimes thinking he was 

 understood and then in despair. There were over a 

 hundred head of deer which the natives harnessed to 

 twenty-seven sleighs loaded with reindeer meat, rein- 

 deer skins, and fish, and when all was ready, they broke 

 camp, and drove over the mountains to the southward. 



