133 ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 



from thence, I made a particular excursion, of 

 vhich the Mammoth was the object, and I will 

 now relate what my journal contains on that 

 subject.* 



" The contrary winds, which had prevailed 

 during the whole summer, delayed my departure 

 from Kuma : this place was then inhabited by 

 forty or fifty Tungusian families, who were gene- 

 rally employed in fishing, &c. 



" The wind having at length changed, I deter- 

 mined to pursue my journey, and passed my rein 

 deer across the river. The next day at sun-rise, 



set off, accompanied by the Tungusian chief, 

 Dssip Schumachof, the merchant of Kuma-Surka, 

 Belkoff, my hunter, three Kossaks, and ten Tun- 

 gusians. The Tungusian chief was the person 

 who had first discovered the Mammoth, and who 

 was proprietor of the territory through which our 

 route lay. The merchant of Kuma-Surka had 

 passed almost all his life on the shores of the 

 Frozen Sea ; his zeal, and the advice he gave me, 

 have the strongest claim to my gratitude, and I 

 even owe to him the preservation of my life in a 

 moment of danger. 



" We passed in our way over high steep 

 mountains, valleys which followed the course of 

 small brooks, and dry and wild plains, where not 



* Some parts of this account not immediately relating 

 to the object in view, are here omitted. 



