580 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



The horrors of this dreadful march to open water, separation of 

 the boats in a gale, loss of Lieut. Chipp's boat and crew, are all 

 fresh in the public mind. So also is the sad death of DeLong 

 and so many of his party near the Lena Delta, where frost and 

 starvation overwhelmed them ; then the- closing chapter of this 

 most unfortunate expedition, the finding of the dead bodies and 

 bringing them from their far resting places in the bleak wastes of 

 Siberia's eternal winter, back to their homes in America and 

 graves in native soil. The escape of Melville and his boat-crew 

 is the only result of the Jeannette expedition that is not extremely 

 painful. 



On the 19th of June, 1878, Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, of 

 the Third United States Cavalry, set sail in the Eotlien in search 

 of the remains of Sir John Franklin and his party. The vessel 

 and crew were both small, but resolution brought the expedition 

 a success which its most earnest promoters had hardly antici- 

 pated. 



They proceeded directly for King William Land, upon reach- 

 ing which they went into winter quarters to await the disappear- 

 ance of snow, so as to prosecute their search for traces of the 

 fated party more easily. Eight months in tents at Camp Daly 

 served to inure Schwatka and his men to the severe climate, and 

 in April he set out with sledges to search for relics of the Frank- 

 lin expedition: Reaching the Netchillik country, he interviewed 

 several of the old natives, from whom he gathered considerable' 

 information. One of these people described the finding of sev- 

 eral bodies near Richardson Point, and the ornaments which he 

 himself had taken from them, consisting of a gold watch and 

 watch-chain, gold ring, gold earrings, pipes, tobacco, and a num- 

 ber f silver watches. These bodies were all in a tent-covered 

 boat ; a number of them bore evidences of having been eaten by 

 their comrades, for many of the bones had been cut with knife 

 and saw. 



Between Franklin Point and Collinson Inlet, Schwatka found 

 the graves of two white men, and on the following day was found 

 the camp which Capt. Crosier and his command had made after 



