News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-08-03
RECORDS OF DE LONG.
Showing How Near tho Explorers
Came to Safety.

|
The place where the bodies OF DE
Longs party were found, which nave
visited, is fifteen miles northeast OF the
island of Stolboy, the prominent p'iiar-
like rock in the Lena, where the river
branches east to Dikof De Long ha1
all along imagined that Stolboy was
myth, and supposed he had passed IL
long before, and two weeks before MS
death he said in his note book: "Qulte
believe we are on The island OF TItary
and twenty-five miles from Kumak-
tSurka." He was bewildered by the
maze of the rivers flowing and inter-
mingling ON the delta proper, and In
his own weak condition had put the dis
tances accomplished longer than they
really were. When be reached the bluff
on which were the Doctor and All Sam
and under the shelter which was little
way off, most of the. others expired.
Then he must have seen clearly that he
had miscalculated, and that he was at
least hundred mills from the Kumak-
Surka. which few lays before he had
imagined only twenty five miles away.
Fate seemed against him. Had he
landed thirty mils further west he
would have struck village of natives
who reside north sf Bulun all winter.
He also passed by Fithin twenty versts
of hut where twenty reindeer carcasses
were hanging for the winter food. He
had unfortunatelyno shotgun from its
having been left by his orders on the
ice when the Jeannette went down, and
though deer were rare there was no
lack of ptarmigan. De Long is con-
stantly recording here numerous
ptarmigan tracks, but for their capture
Alexia had only rifle, and though a
good shot only succeeded in obtaining
very few." On the day Noros and
Ninderman were sent away by De Long
large flock of 200 ptarmigan settled
within quarter of a mile of the party,
but none were shot. With single
shotgun in Alexias hands all might
have been saved. The season was too
late for deer. A strange incident, also,
came to my knowledge at Gemovlalck.
1t seems that some Tonguse natives,
travelling from the north to Bikoff, 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 footprints were those OF
smugglers or robbers and left 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, fearing to be punished for not
following the footsteps, kept their in
formation to themselves for some weeks
until too late
De Long made mistakes in endeavor-
ing to secure the safety of his own pri
vate logs, which were bulky, as well as
the scientific instruments and other
useless impediments-a heavy burden
for the men. Those 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
filed one entire dog sled when found
near the bluff. After Noros and Min
derman left, the party did not make
more than eighteen miles from October
to the 30th. 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
persisted. But he only succeeded in
carrying the chart case up. Even be-
fore Noros and Ninderm an left De Long
was very weak. He used to walk ten
minutes and then lie down to rest, say
ing to the nen, Don't mind me; 90
on as far as you can. I will follow"
During his wanderings on the delta De
Long built large bonfire as high as
thirty feet every night. the last one be-
ing few hundred yards from the bluff
where they all perished, in the hopes
of attracting the attention of parties
who, he kept saying, would certainly
be out looking for him. But the fires
blazed in vain. There was not a human
being at the time of their death within
a hundred miles. Melville's party at
Gemovialck were about this distance
away.
The blaze from such large bonfire
on the plains of the delta should have
have been seen IN that frosty air from
forty to fifty versts away, and had the
search parties been out the probabili-
ties are that De Long would have been
rescued. The river was open till Octo-
Der 5, as De Long says in his notebook. |
The Lena's mouth near GemoviaIck is
very wide AMI very shallow. 1t was
frozen over and broken up repeatedly |
from the time Melville and his party
landed to October 5.
The tomb and large cross over the
grave on the mountain, near the hut OF
twenty or thirty versts. Arrangements
have been made by Governor Tcher-
naieff, of Yakutsk, to have the entire
calrn covered with deep layer of earth
to prevent the possibility of the sun
thawing the bodies in the tomb. If this
be done promptly doubtless the bodies
will remain untouched by decay for
ever, as the ground remains frozen on
the delta all the year round at depth
of two feet. The bodies can therefore
be removed at later date if desired
General Tchernaieff has also caused
Russian inscription to be prepared to be
placed on the tomb, and has given Or
ders to the officials north that every
care shall be taken to preserve the tomb
and the monument in good condition.
Captain Jurgens, chief of a Russian
meteorological expedition to the Lena
delta, who leaves for the north in ten
days and will reside on the delta for
eighteen months, has consented to keep
a lookout for relics of Chipp's boats
during his journeys, and will urge the
natives as well to keep a lookout, and
reward them if they find anything.
Captain Jurgens has built wooden
house here, in which he takes up his
residence, and it is to be foated down
on fatboat to the dalta, where he will
establish his headquarters, probably
near Barkin.