840 THE VOYAGE OF THE JE ANNETTE. 



had spent the night of October 11th, and the whole of 

 October 12th. Nindemann, in reporting his journey to 

 Mr. Melville, had forgotten to name this place, and 

 accordingly Mr. Melville thought for a time that he had 

 come upon evidences of occupation by some of Captain 

 De Long's party ; for the sticks used to protect sleep- 

 ers from the ground had been rearranged so as to make 

 a bed with the feet toward the fire, a custom different 

 from what prevailed among the natives of this region. 

 One of the party also picked up a waist-belt, and Mr. 

 Melville, on examining the buckle, knew that it had 

 been made in the fire-room of the Jeannette. 



With this perplexing evidence of occupation, he 

 made up his mind to keep on, following the w T est bank ; 

 but upon ordering the natives to make ready to move 

 the next morning, November 10th, they met him with 

 the statement that provisions were exhausted, and they 

 must return, for there was nothing either for them or 

 their dogs. As the commandant had agreed to load 

 the sleds with ten days' provisions for men and dogs, 

 and they had only been out five days, Mr. Melville in- 

 sisted upon going on. He asked how far it was to the 

 nearest village, and they replied that it was more than 

 a hundred miles, but they did not want to go on ; they 

 wanted to go back. There were twenty-two dogs with 

 them, and Mr. Melville very emphatically told them 

 that he should go on ; that they would eat the dogs as 

 long as they lasted, and when the clogs gave out he 

 should eat them. 



His resolution had its effect, and they set out for the 

 village, which was called North Bulun and close to the 

 shores of the Arctic Ocean. They passed a number of 

 huts upon the way and spent one night at a place 

 called Kas Karta, where the abundance of scraps of 



