THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 765 



the Secretary of the Navy, instructing him to omit no effort and 

 to spare no expense in securing the safety of the lost explorers. 

 This dispatch being shown to the Governor of Yakou(>k, that 

 officer, with a spirit of great generosity, placed at Melville's dis- 

 posal all the money and provisions and any number of men that 

 might be required. Being greatly facilitated in his efforts, Mel- 

 ville speedily collected teams, men, and provisions, with which 

 he pushed northward to Bulem again, which he reached February 

 18th. A month was now spent getting dogs and establishing 

 depots of supplies at the necessary rendezvous. 



March 16, 1882, he set out with Nindemann upon his search, 

 but they were forced to return by a terrible snow-storm, in which 

 they came near being lost. After the storm had abated they 

 started again, and traveled over a very large district before find- 

 ing any traces of the route which DeLong had followed. At 

 length they came to the river, and going out upon a headland 

 leading into a bay, they discovered a fire-bed six feet in diameter, 

 and from its evident use as a signal they knew it must have been 

 one of DeLong's camping places. 



About five hundred yards from where the fire had been made, 

 Melville noticed the points of four sticks standing up out of the 

 snow about eighteen inches, and lashed together with a piece of 

 rope. Making a careful examination of this place, he first found 

 a tea-kettle, then an arm was seen protruding from the snow, 

 and hastily scraping the snow away, he was horrified to find the 

 body of his late commander, Lieut. DeLong. This convinced 

 him that the death-camp was near, and a little additional effort 

 soon uncovered the bodies of Dr. Ambler and Ah Sam, the cook. 

 The bodies were all carefully taken from under the snow and 

 laid side by side, where they were left under a piece of old tent 

 cloth, while the search for the others was continued. It was not 

 until the following day, however, that the blown-down tent was 

 discovered, as it lay buried in a drift of snow nearly twenty feet 

 deep. The tent was several hundred yards distant from the spot 

 where DeLong lay, and under its frozen folds the remains of 

 three more victims of the expedition were found. These six 



