MIDDENDORFF'S ADVENTURES IN TAIMURLAND. 



223 



together with the shortness of our provisions, tried us sorely. Not a day pass- 

 ed without sleet and snow. 



" On September 5, while endeavoring to double during a violent storm a 

 rocky island at the northern extremity of Lake Taimur, one wave after another 

 dashed into the boat, which I could only save by letting her run upon a sand- 

 bank. The violent wind, with a temperature of only +27° at noon, covered 

 our clothes with solid ice-crusts. We were obliged to halt four days till the 

 storm ceased; our nets and my double-barrelled gun proved daily more and 

 more unsuccessful, so that hunger combined with cold to render our situation 

 almost intolerable. On the 8th, while on the lookout for ptarmigan, I saw 

 through my telescope a long stripe of silver stretching over the lake, and, re- 

 turning to my comrades, informed them that we must absolutely set off again 

 the next morning, regardless of w^ind and weather. 



" On the following day the ominous indications of the telescope rendered it 

 necessary to approach the more open west side of the lake ; w^hich I followed 

 until stopped by the ice, along whose borders I then sailed in order to reach the 

 river, which must still be open. Meanwhile the wind had completely fallen, and, 

 to our astonishment, we saw the water in our wake cover itself with a thin 

 crust of ice as soon as we passed. The danger of freezing fast in the middle 

 of the lake was evident." 



Unfortunately, while endeavoring to reach the river, the boat wns crushed 

 between two ice floes, and was with great difficulty dragged on shore. The 

 only chance of rescue now was to meet with some Samoiedes on the upper 

 course of the river, for these nomads never wander northward beyond the south- 

 ern extremity of the lake, and from this our travellers were still at a great 

 distance. 



" We made a large hand-sledge," continues Middendorff, " and set off with- 

 out loss of time on the 10th, in spite of the rainy weather, which had complete- 

 ly dissolved the sparing snow upon the hills. The sharp stones cut into our 

 sledge-runners like knives, and after having scarcely made three versts, the ve- 

 hicle fell to pieces. The bad weather forced us to stop for the night. The fa- 

 tigues of our boat-journey, the want of proper food, and mental anxiety, had 

 for several weeks been undermining my health : a total want of sleep destroyed 

 the remainder of my strength, so that, early on the 11th, I felt myself quite 

 unable to proceed." 



In this extremity Middendorff adopted with heroic self-denial the best and 

 only means for his own preservation and that of his comrades. If, by depart- 

 ing without loss of time, they were fortunate enough to reach the Samoiedes 

 before these nomads had left the Taimur country for the south, he also might 

 be rescued ; if they found them very late, they at least might expect to save 

 their lives ; if the Samoiedes could not be found, then of course the whole party 

 was doomed. Thus Middendorff resolved to separate at once from his com- 

 rades. A remnant of flesh extract, reserved for extreme cases, was divided into 

 five equal portions ; the naturalist's dog, the faithful companion of all his pre- 

 vious journeys, was killed, though reduced to a mere skeleton, and his scanty 

 ■flesh similarly distributed among the party. The blood and a soup made of the 



