THE FINAL SEARCH. 863 



Here he expected to find Lieutenant Harber, of whose 

 movements he had heard, but learned that he was then 

 at Vittim, nearly seven hundred miles up the Lena 

 River, getting vessels ready for an exploration of the 

 Delta by water. He hastened forward by steamer, hop- 

 ing to intercept him, but they passed in the night, as 

 Mr. Melville learned when he reached a station called 

 Olekma, where he found a letter from Lieutenant 

 Harber. Lieutenant Berry decided to send Ensign 

 Hunt, who had volunteered, back to join Lieutenant 

 Harber, and Bartlett requested and obtained leave to 

 accompany him. Nindemann also wished to be of the 

 party, but Mr. Melville was unwilling to increase Lieu- 

 tenant Harber's number without better knowledge of 

 his resources. At this point, accordingly, Ensign Hunt 

 and Bartlett turned back to Yakutsk, while Lieuten- 

 ant Berry, Mr. Melville, and Nindemann .kept on to 

 Irkutsk, where they were joined by Noros, whom they 

 found there with Mr. Jackson, and from Irkutsk they 

 made their way to the Atlantic sea-board and thence 

 to America. 



A thorough search of the Delta was made by Lieu- 

 tenant Harber and his party during the summer, but 

 without avail, and in the autumn Ensign Hunt re- 

 turned to the United States, bringing with him Bart- 

 lett, Leach, Lauterbach, and Manson. Wilson had been 

 ill and had preceded them, while the Indian Aneguin 

 had died of small-pox on the journey. Lieutenant 

 Harber and Master Schuetze asked leave of the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy to remain another year and make a 

 still more thorough search, part of their plan being to 

 visit Semanovski Island. Permission was given, and 

 they were charged also with the duty of bringing back 

 to the United States the remains of Lieutenant-Com- 



