832 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



huts called Arrhu, where were about a dozen men, 

 women, and children. Here the Starosti of Borkhia 

 gave out, and secured the services of three young men 

 of Arrhu to take them to the next point, the village of 

 Geeomovialocke, where they arrived on the evening 

 of the 26th. The condition of the men in the whale- 

 boat at this time was very trying. They were badly 

 frozen and otherwise incapacitated ; but two or three, 

 or at the most four, were able to do any work, but the 

 men and women of the village helped discharge the boat, 

 and the Starosti gave them the use of his house. The 

 village was the first place which could be so called, 

 which they had reached. It was upon an island in the 

 river, and the natives assured Mr. Melville that it was 

 a journey of sixteen days to Bulun. He insisted upon 

 being taken there, and as his supply of provisions was 

 now exhausted, he was compelled to depend upon the 

 stores of the natives and upon such small game as they 

 might fall in with. 



They made an attempt to get away the next day, 

 the purpose of the natives being to skirt Cape Borkhia 

 and Cape Ordono, and to make their way into the Lena 

 River proper upon which Bulun was situated ; but after 

 struggling w T ith the ice and beating against a rising 

 wind, they were compelled to return to the village and 

 haul the boat up. The ice began to close in about the 

 island, and the natives assured them that there was no 

 way of escape until the wind should blow the ice out of 

 the bay, or until the bay should be so completely frozen 

 over as to permit them to cross it on the ice. 



They were given a single hut, and furnished with 

 provisions by the natives, but the addition of the party 

 to the village at a time when it was very difficult 

 to increase the stock of provisions made the situa- 



