846 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



from hauling the sleds, that when they got within eight 

 versts (five and a half miles) of the village, they pro- 

 posed not to go any farther, but wait until the next 

 day and camp in the snow. When the natives stopped, 

 the dogs howled like wolves, the dogs in the village 

 hearing the dogs attached to the sleds howling, an- 

 swered the call, and the dogs made a fresh start and got 

 in all right that night out of the storm. 



" I arrived at Ku Mark Surka on the 24th of Novem- 

 ber, remained there all night, and the next morning 

 started the dog teams and arrived at Burulak, where I 

 remained over night, and the next morning started for 

 Bulun, a distance of eighty versts (fifty-three miles). 

 The snow at this time was so deep and the weather so 

 bad that it required a train of sixteen reindeer to carry 

 myself and one dog driver and the articles recovered at 

 the cache ; for these eighty versts the ordinary time is 

 eight hours, and I had made it before in seven hours. 

 On this occasion it required fourteen hours to make 

 it, for I was obliged to stop at a native village called 

 Ajaket, the natives having lost their way on the river, 

 and bringing up at this place to warm up. I arrived 

 at Bulun on the morning of the 27th of November, 

 having been absent twenty-three days." 



Mr. Melville estimated that on this first search he had 

 traveled about six hundred and sixty-three miles. He 

 had, without knowing it, passed near to the spot where 

 the party for whom he was looking lay dead ; but it 

 was plain that now in the depth of winter, and at a dis- 

 tance from necessary supplies, it was impossible to make 

 further search, either for the people of the first cutter, 

 or for those of the second cutter, about whom no syl- 

 lable had yet reached him. He determined therefore 

 to remove the men who had remained behind when 



