ALEXEI MARKHOFF'S EXPEDITION. 197 



drawn by dogs on March lOth from the mouth 

 of the Eiver Jana, in latitude 70° 30'. They 

 travelled due north, as fast as the dogs could 

 go, for seven days, by which time they had 

 got to about the 78th degree of latitude (400 

 miles in seven days). Here their progress 

 was interrupted by the excessive roughness 

 and irregularity of the ice, and they were 

 compelled to retrace their steps. Markhoff 

 seems to have made the dangerous error of 

 miscalculating the quantity of his provisions, 

 or of overestimating the endurance of his dogs ; 

 for on his return journey he fell short of 

 provisions, and it was only by the desperate 

 expedient of killing some of his dogs to feed 

 the others, that he and his companions got 

 back in safety; for this reason, the return 

 journey seems to have occupied a much longer 

 time than the run north, for he only returned 

 to Ustianskoe Simowie, the place from which 

 he had started, on April 3rd. 



As Alexei Markhoff had thus travelled up- 

 wards of 400 miles in seven days, and upwards 

 of 800 miles in twenty-four days, there can siirely 

 be no absolutely insuperable reason why other 

 people, better provided than he was, should not 

 be able to travel 1200 mUes in thirty-six days, 



3 



