Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-04-09
Spring in Siberia.


 The various parties which are to search for Lieutenant De Long and the re- mainGer of the crew of the Jeannette have left Yatkutsk, and are probably by this time near the shores Of the Polar sea. The severe season in that region IS by no means past. The ocean IS stIll frozen to the coast, deep snows lie m the woods and cover the tundras, and the bitter winds from the North Pole still howl across the dreary wastes and make the life of the inhabitants of the reglon miserable. Throughout March the ther- mometer remains almost constantly rom 10 degrees to 15 degrees below zero When Wrangel spent three years at the mouth of the kolyma he made annual excursions over the sea to the north, never starting until the last Of February or about the lst of March, and returning some time Tn April or about the lst of May, the ice being firm and the snow compact enough tc make travel by sledges on land or water comparatively easy. though by no meaDs pleasant.
 We can see from this record what the crew ot the Jeannette have still to endure, from the weather alone, when such spring follows an Arctic winter. In the matter ot food there are terrible depn- vations. The people are engaged dur ing the short summer ln catching hsh and killing deer and wild fowl, and pre- serving them by drying or saltlng. But no matter how industrious or thrifty they may be, their stores are m danger of exhausting before the next spnng, when there ensues great scarclty and often starvation.
 There Is extreme destitutiOn In the villages, and the less prevalent Iungusl and Jakuts who inhabit the regions about the delta of the Lena, having nothing wherewith to maintain life come into the towns and wander about like animated skeletons, greedily picklng up whatever bones or offal may be lylns Tn the streets. The native tribes, though they are well disposed and hospitable, would have little to spare to shIpwrecked mariners unexpectedly throyn among them. Little dependence is to'be placed on such animals as may be killed from time to time as most of them go south in the autumn and the country IS utterly desoiate. The stores accumulated dur ing summer are the only dependence. Wrangel says: "It was my lot to pass here three such dreadful springs as have described, and cannot now look back without shuddering on the scenes of misery winch I witnessed, and which I may not venture to describe"
 Such winter as the lost explorers have had to endure, and which may have been their last, is fearful to contemplate Out door life IS entirely suspended The Russians in the villages keep within their houses, and Jakuts and Tungusi retire to their huts. Life in tents could not be long endured even with an abun- dance Of provisions. Deserted huts are scattered here and there, which wand ering party might find and warm, but which would only serve to prolOng their miseries unless food could be obtained. Wrangel had a house with two rooms, parked up with earth to the caves, and furnished with fireplaces.
 Yet in the coldest weather he had to wear his warmest furs m the daytime to keep from freezing, and If at night he suffered his first to go out for short time his bed was covered with thick rime like snow. When he wrote he could only keep his ink from freezing by setting his inkstand Ill hot water. With all the appliances fur comfort and pro- lection that were known Tn the region, he had to maintain an incessant contest against the rigors of the season.
 If the Jeannette crew can manage to live through all the seventies of such winter and the deprivatlOns of the first months of spring, their salvation is as- sured. Late in April come the first rains, and signs of animal life appear In May and June the rivers are filled with fish, the forests with reindeer, and the air and water with wild fowl. In June the ice of the Lena melts, and steamers can find their way to the Arc tic ocean. The air becomes warm, the days are pleasant, and life Is tolerable, except in places hauuted by multitudes of large and venomous mosquitoes. It is then comparatively easy tO pass from place to place. People leave the viii lages to fish in the smaller streams, hunt and trap in the woods, CT 10 gather Der ries that grow abundautly in certain To- cahties. There are no social pleasures. Every moment is spent in getting food enough to last through the next season. When the spring is fairly opened the lost discoverers must soon be found, or their fate speedily revealed.