SHIPWRECKED ON YETORUP 
101 
Here we relieved the steward and the sailor of their 
burdens, placing them in a conspicuous tree, so that 
they could easily be found again. We now descended 
into the valley, crossed it, and climbed up on the 
other side ; it was terribly tiring work, but we finally 
reached the coast, and found ourselves about three 
miles below Purebetsu. The land hereabouts ran out 
in high bluffs to the sea, with no beach along which 
we could walk. We now had to cross several deep 
gullies with steep sides ; sliding down to the bottom 
was easy, but the climb up the other side was most 
difficult; we would often get halfway up, and then 
come sliding down again to the bottom. Needless 
to say, we still carried the two bottles of “ Old 
Tom,” but inside of us instead of outside. 
Although some of us were somewhat frost-bitten, 
we did not feel the cold. An intense desire to take 
just a few moments’ sleep possessed us all at times, 
particularly when we fell. It appeared to me on 
such occasions, that if I could be let alone and allowed 
to sleep for just five minutes I should be all right 
again. Of course we kept each other going, and 
finally arrived at the village soon after three o’clock 
in the morning. We had been fifteen hours struggling 
through the snow, were all thoroughly played out, 
and could scarcely crawl into the house. The last 
six miles had taken us ten hours to accomplish. 
About ten o’clock next morning our five sailors 
turned up. After we left them at the halfway hut 
they made a fire, and turned in to sleep. During the 
night they piled on too much wood ; the place caught 
fire, and was burned to the ground. 
Except for a slight stiffness, none of us was ap¬ 
parently the worse for the fatiguing journey across 
