NINDEMANN AND NOROS. 821 



had died. I showed them through signs that he had 

 died, and that we buried him in the river. Everybody 

 shook his head, as much as to say they felt sorry for it. 

 I then made them understand that we had left the cap- 

 tain a couple of days after that, and by putting my 

 head down and closing my eyes, to show them how 

 many days it had been that we had left him. This 

 seemed to affect them pretty well, but it seemed to me 

 as if they would not give me any assistance. Some- 

 times it seemed to me as if they understood everything 

 that I wanted. Then all at once it seemed that they 

 did not understand a word. I kept talking with those 

 people till it must have been somewhere near twelve 

 o'clock, but they did not show any signs by this time 

 of any intention to give me assistance, or to do any- 

 thing for me." 



Another day was spent in an incessant but fruitless 

 attempt to make themselves understood, and on Thurs- 

 day morning, October 27th, Nindemann sitting alone 

 on his berth and thinking of everything, of their ter- 

 rible march, of their helpless companions, and of the 

 hopelessness of carrying any aid to them, could contain 

 himself no longer, and broke into sobs and groans. A 

 woman in the hut took pity on him, and began talking 

 earnestly to one of the men, who came to Nindemann 

 and said something about a commandant. By this time 

 Nindemann had picked up a few w^ords, and he begged 

 the man to take them on to Bulun, for he was in despair 

 of doing anything in this place. The man in reply 

 again said something about the commandant, and held 

 up five or six fingers. Then he made Nindemann un- 

 derstand that he would take him to Bulun on the mor- 

 row. 



The day passed by, and late in the evening a native 



