IV.] 
NUMMELIN’S WINTERING. 
213 
should be visible on the 19th January we must assume a hori¬ 
zontal refraction of nearly 1°. The islands on the Yenisej are 
so low that there was probably a pretty open horizon towards 
the south. 
Soon after Christmas scurvy began to show itself. Numme- 
lin’s companions were condemned and punished criminals, in 
whom there was to be expected neither physical nor moral 
power of resistance to this disease. They all died, three of 
scurvy, and one in the attempt to cross from the Briochov 
Islands to a simovie at Tolstoinos. In their stead Nummelin 
succeeded in procuring two men from Tolstoinos, and later on 
one from Goltschicha. On the 11th May a relief party arrived 
from the south. It consisted of three men under the mate 
Meyenwaldt, whom Sidoroff had sent to help to save the vessel. 
They had first to shovel away he snow which weighed it down. 
The snow lay nearly six metres deep on the river ice, which 
was three metres thick. When they at last had got the vessel 
nearly dug out, it was buried again by a new snowstorm. 
In the middle of June the ice began to move, and the river 
water rose so high that Nummelin, Meyenwaldt, and four men, 
along with two dogs, were compelled to betake themselves to 
the roof of the hut, where they had laid in a small stock of 
provisions and fuel. Here they passed six days in constant 
peril of their lives. 
The river had now risen five metres ; the roof of the hut rose 
but a quarter of a metre above the surface of the swollen river, 
and was every instant in danger of being carried away by a 
floating piece of ice. In such a case a small boat tied to the 
roof was their only means of escape. 
The whole landscape was overflowed. The other houses and 
huts were carried away by the water and the drifting ice, which 
also constantly threatened the only remaining building. The 
men on its roof were compelled to work night and day to keep 
the pieces of ice at a distance with poles. 
