The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-07-14
TOMBS IN THE DELTA.
THE sAoFATE OF De LONG AND MEN.
How Near the Explorers Came to Saitty-reod
cio. at Hand, AID Th,y Kasw II Sot-Mh.re
the Arctic iIeroe, Liz Burl.d-BIt.
w terasu OF rste EI,mpiln.d. .t

"a'S W ouhe o, Gays tIal ne uaQ Just ar
rived ut that town after visiting the Lent
delta, Gemovialck, the bluff WHEREOF
Captain Dc Long aud party pcrished unt
their tomb, and following the course taken
by Noros and Ninderman from the place
where they left the party to Belun. With
me arrived Engineer Melville, Bartlett
Ninderman and Capt Berry and Lieut.,
Hunt, OF the Rodgers.
After describing some OF the hardships
OF the journey, and commenting on the
death Of Lieut.. Putnam, OF Can't, Bnrry,s
party, he says that Capt. Berry before this
sad event had determined TO TO send Put.
nam to hunt along the northern coast Of
Siberia 10 look for traces OF the Jeannctte,
After l'utnam's loss he determined 10 come
himself. F l.5e,.f-''I :
MELvILLEs HALT.
Hearing en- route that Melville had found
the bodies OF De Longs party, and know.
ing the season was TOO late for further
search for Chip, determined to 90 to
iakussk, there to confer with Melville, and
alter learning what the latter had done 10
decide upon the necessity and method oil
the summers search. In arriving at
iakutsk, however, both Captain Barry and
Chief Engineer Melville were surprised TO
learn from Irkutsk that Lie,enant Iarber
had gone 10 Fitim with five saiIors, where
he has secured paddle-wheeler for 10.
600 rnbles for the summer, aud with her is
going to persecute tue search for Chipp on
the Lena delta. Melyillc's search for
Chipp. though extensive, could necessarily
not be SO thorough rs desirable owing to
the snow drifts. Any steamer drawing
over eighteen inches Of water will be quite
useless on the delta 1t cannot get within
five miles of shore or into the shallow
mouths OF the numerous outlets OF the
Lena. The seach will, after all, have to be
made in small boats, manned by as few
men as possible. Captain Barry and En-.
gineer Melville hope to see Harber at
Natim. ~,
THE TOMB OF DE LONG.
The place where the bodies OF De Longs
party were found, which have visited, is
fifteen miles northeas. oithe island Of stol.
boy, the prominent pillar-like rock in the
Lena, where the river branches east to Di.
kotF, De Long bad all along imagined
that Stolboy was myth, and supposed he
had passed it long before, and two weeks
before his death he said in his notebook :
quite believe we are on the island OF
Tilary and twenty-five miles from Kumak.
surka." he was bewildered by the maze
OF rivers flowing and interniingling on the
delta proper, and in bis own weak condi.
ton had put the distances accomplished
longer than they really were. When he
reached the bluff on which were the Doc.
tor and All Sam, and under the shelter
which was little way of, most OF the
others expired. Then he must have seen
clearly that he .niscalculated, and that he
was at least q hundred miles from the
kumak.Surka, which a few days before he
had imagined only twinty.Gvc miles away.
a HARD FATE. 2
Fate seemed against him. Had he landed
thirty miles further west he would have
struck village OF natives who reside north
OF Buiun all winter. lie also passed by
within twenty versts of hut where twenty
reindeer carcasses were hanging for the
winter food. lie had unfortunately mo
shotgun from its having been left by his
orders on the ice when the Jeanette wen,
down, and though deer were rare there was
no lack OF ptarmigan. De Lon: is con.
stanuy recording here numerous ptar.
migau tracks, but for their capture Alexia
had only rifle, and though good shot
only succeeded in obtaining very few,n
On the day Noros and Ninderman were
sent away by De Long large flock OF
two hundred ptarmigan settled within
aquarter o! mile Of the party, but none
were shot. With a single shotgun in
Aiexia's hands all might have been saved.
The season was too late for deer. "A strange
incident, also, came to my knowledge ut
Geinovlatck. 1t seems that some Tonguse
natives, travelling from the north to Bikof,
saw the footprints OF the party two days
old and picked up the Remington which
De Long had left in hut half way from
the landing place to the bluff. The natives
were frightened and thought that the foot.
prints were those OF smugglers or robbers
and lett the ground without following. On
arriving at Gemovialck they heard OF the
presence Of the Melville party OF three and
the loss Of the captains party, and they,
tearing to be punished for not following
the footsteps, kept their information to
themselves for some weeks until too late.
THE RECORDS.
De Long made mistakes in endeavoring
to secure the safety OF his own private loc,s'
which were bulky, as well as the scientific
ins.rHmentsand other useless impedimenta
ii heavy burden for the men. These
could have been left in the cache near the
place where they landed, but they had to
be borne by the men through all the days
Of their weary march. These things filled
one entire dog sled when found near the
bluff. After Noros and Ninderlnan left
the party did not make more than eighteen
miles from October 9th to the 3O,h, De
Longs last effort was to carry his private
logs and charts up from the place under
the bluff, where Mr.. Collins and the others
died. and where they would have been
swept away by the spring floods to the
top OF the bluff where the Doctor and All
Sam perished. But he only succeeded in
's w .a.it esisc up. lISen DcIOfe
Naros and Linderman left De Long was
very weak: He used to walk ten minutes
and then lie down to rest, saving to the
men, Don't mind me; go on as far as YOU
can. | will follow" During his wander
inGs on the delta De Long built large
bonfire as high rs thirty feet every night,
the last one being n few hundred Yards
from the bluff where they all persisted, in
the hopes Of attracting the attention OF
parties who, he kept saying, would certainly
be out locking for him. But the fires
blazed in vain. There WAS not human
being at the time OF their death within a
hundred miles. Melvile's party ut Ge emo.
rlalck were about this distance away.
THE CAMP FIRE Il s
The blaze from such q large bonfire on the