834 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



tober there came to the village a Russian exile, who 

 seemed more intelligent than the men about them, and 

 was living across the bay on the mainland. This man 

 was the Kusmah who later fell in with Nindemann and 

 Noros. He represented that the ice in the bay was in 

 such a condition that it would be impracticable for 

 them to cross at this time, but promised on leaving to 

 return in a few clays and then go to Bulun for them 

 and secure the assistance of the commandant of that 

 post. 



Kusmah was as good as his word, and on October 

 14th came again to Mr. Melville and expressed his 

 readiness to go to Bulun, and to bring reindeer teams 

 for the transportation of the party, as well as food and 

 clothing, of all of which they stood very much in need. 

 He told Mr. Melville that he would go and return in 

 five days, and Mr. Melville promised to pay him, if he 

 fulfilled his contract, the sum of five hundred roubles, 

 and give him the whaleboat. He required also that 

 he should start at once. He did not go 7 however, un- 

 til the 16th, for it appeared afterward that as a crimi- 

 nal exile he could not go without the company of the 

 Starosti of the village. However, he went at last, and 

 they all impatiently awaited his return. 



Meanwhile, in their intercourse with the Russians 

 and the natives, the}' were slowly acquiring greater 

 facilities of speech, and they learned that Barkin was 

 only forty or fifty versts, or twenty-seven to thirty- 

 four miles to the northeast of where they then were, 

 and Lieutenant Danenhower made an attempt to reach 

 the place in order to learn something, if possible, of 

 the other boats. Owing, however, to the faithlessness 

 or lack of intelligence of the natives, and to the diffi- 

 culty of travel, whether by land or by water, he was 



