IV.] NUMMELIN'S WINTERING. 163 



- 5°. On the 8th May it was + 0, on the l7th - 10-5°, on the 

 31st + 0'5°. June began with -|- 1"5°. On the 8th the reading 

 at mid-day was -f 11°, on the morning and evening of the same 

 day + 2° to + 8°. During the remainder of June and the month 

 of July the temperature varied between + 2° and + 21°. 



It was in such circumstances that Nummelin and his four 

 companions hved in the ill-provided house of j^lanks on the 

 Little Briochov Island. They removed to it, as has been already 

 said, on the 5th October ; on the 20th the ice was so hard frozen 

 that they could walk upon it. On the 26th snowstorms 

 commenced, so that it was impossible to go out of the house. 



The sun was visible for the last time on the 21st November, 

 and it reappeared on the 19th January. On the 15th JNIay the 

 sun no longer set. The temperature was then under the 

 freezing point of mercury. That the upper edge of the sun 

 should be visible on the 19th January we must assume a hori- 

 zontal refraction of nearly 1°. The islands on the Yenisej are 

 so low that there was probably a pretty open horizon towards 

 the south. 



Soon after Christmas scurvy began to show itself. Numme- 

 lin's companions were condemned and punished criminals, in 

 whom there was to be expected neither physical nor moral 

 power of resistance to this disease. They all died, three of 

 scurvy, and one in the attempt to cross from the Briochov 

 Islands to a simovie at Tolstoinos. In their stead Nummelin 

 succeeded in procuring two men from Tolstoinos, and later on 

 one from Goltschicha, On the 11th May a relief party arrived 

 from the south. It consisted of three men under the mate 

 Meyenwaldt, whom Sidoroff had sent to help to save the vessel. 

 They had first to shovel away the snow which weighed it down. 

 The snow lay nearly six metres deep on the river ice, which 

 was three metres thick. When they at last had got the vessel 

 nearly dug out, it was buried again by a new snowstorm. 



In the middle of June the ice began to move, and the river 

 water rose so high that Nummelin, Meyenwaldt, and four men, 

 along with two dogs, were compelled to betake themselves to 

 the roof of the hut, where they had laid in a small stock of 

 provisions and fuel. Here they passed six days in constant 

 peril of their lives. 



The river had now risen five metres ; the roof of the hut rose 

 but a quarter of a metre above the surface of the swollen river, 

 and was every instant in danger of being carried away by a 

 floating piece of ice. In such a case a small boat tied to the 

 roof was their only means of escape. 



The whole landscape was overflowed. The other houses and 

 huts were carried away by the water and the drifting ice, which 

 also constantly threatened the only remaining building. The 



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