856 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



doctor's middle, and feet in the fire, or where the fire 

 had been. This fireplace was surrounded by drift- 

 wood, immense trunks of trees, and they had their fire 

 in the crotch of a large tree. They had carried the 

 tea-kettle up there, and got a lot of Arctic willow 

 which they used for tea, and some ice to make water 

 for their tea, and had a fire. They apparently had 

 attempted to carry their books and papers up on this 

 high point, because they carried the chart case up 

 there, and I suppose the fatigue of going up on the 

 high land prevented their returning to get the rest of 

 their books and papers. No doubt they saw that if 

 they died on the river bed, where the water runs, the 

 spring freshets would carry them off to sea. 



" I gathered up all the small articles lying around in 

 the vicinity of the dead. I found the ice journal about 

 three or four feet in the rear of De Long ; that is, it 

 looked as though he had been lying down, and with his 

 left hand tossed the book over his shoulder to the rear, 

 or to the eastward of him. I referred to the last pages 

 of the journal, and saw where the next man had died 

 after Ericksen. The first man that died after Ericksen 

 was Alexey, the Indian hunter. The journal stated that 

 he had died in the flat-boat ; that was about five hun- 

 dred yards from where we then were. Referring to 

 the journal, I found that the whole of the people were 

 now in the lee of the bank, in a distance of about five 

 hundred yards. In the mean time, the native that 

 had gone for Nindemann had brought him back. We 

 covered the bodies with a piece of old tent cloth. . . „ 

 The natives continued to dig underneath the tent-poles, 

 at the edge of the bank, and after a while struck the 

 earth and found nothing. In the mean time it came 

 on to snow and blow. I told the natives to dig away 



