Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-07-15

ing the course taken by Noros and
and Ninderman from the place where
they left the party to Bulun. With
me arrived Engineer Melville, Bart
lett, Ninderman and Captain Berry
and Lieutenant Hunt, Of the Rodgers.
THE TOMB OF DE LONG.
The place where the bodies of De
Longs party were found, which | have
visited, is fifteen miles northeast
of the island of Stolboy, the prominent
pillar like rock in the Lena, where
the river branches east tc Dikof. De
Long had all along imagined that
Stolboy was a myth, and supposed he
had passed it long before, and two
weeks before his death be said in his
note book: Quite believe we are on
the Island of Titary, and 25 miles
from Kumak Surka." He was bewil-
dered by the maze of the rivers flow
ing and inter mingling on the delta
proper, and in his own weak condition
had put the distances accomplished
longer than they really we're. When
he reached the bluff on which were
the doctor and All Sam, and under
the shelter which was a little way off,
most of the others expired. Then he
must have seen clearly that he had
miscalculated, and that he was at
least a hundred miles from the Kumak
Surka, which a few days before he had
imagined only 20 miles away.
A HARD FATE.
Fate seemed against him, Had he
landed 30 miles further west, he would
have struck a village of natives who
reside north of Bulun all winter. He
also passed by within 20 versts of a
hut where 20 reindeer Carcasses were
hanging for winter food. He had
unfortunately bad no shotgun, from
its having been left by his orders on
the ice when the Jeanette went
down. and though deer we're rare
there was no lack Of ptarmigan. De
Long is constantly recording here "nu-
merous ptarmigan tracks, but for their
capture Alexia had only a rife, and
though a good shot only succeeded in
obtaining very few" On the day Noros
and Ninderman we're sent away by De
Long a large flock of ptarmigan settled
within a quarter of a mile Of the party,
but none were shot. With a single
shotgun in Alexia's hands all might
have been saved. The season was too
late for deer. A strange incident, also,
came to my knowledge at Gemovialck.
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 a hut half
way from the landing place to the
bluff. The natives were frightened
and thought that the footprints we're
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 information to themselves for
some weeks until too late.
THE RECORDS.
De Long made mistakes in endeav
oring to secure the safety of his own
private logs, which we're bulky, as
well as the scientific instruments and
other useless impedimenta--a heavy
burden for the men. these could have
been left in the coche 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 zeal the bluff.
After Noros and Ninderman left
the party did not make more than
eighteen miles from October 9 to the
Both. belongs last effort was to
carry his private legs 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 foods TO the top
of the bluff where the Doctor and All
Sam persisted. But he only succeeded
in carrying the chart case up. Even
before Noros and Ninderman left De
Long was very weak. He used to
walk ten minutes and then lie
down to rest, saying to the men,
Don't mind ME; go on as far as you
can. | will follow" During his
v~anderings on the delta De Long
built a large bonfire as high as thirty
feet every night, the last one being a
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 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. Mel
ville's party at Gemovialck were about
this distance away.
THE CAMP FIRE.
The blaze from such a large bonfire
on the plains of the delta should have
been seer in that frosty air from forty
to fifty versts away, aud had the
search parties been out the probabili-
ties are that De Long would have
been rescued. The river was open
till October 5, as De Long says in his
notebook. The Leua's mouth near
Gemovialck is very wide and very
shallow. 1t was frozen over and
broken up repeatedly from the time
Melville and his party landed to o.
tober 8.
THE TOMB.
The tomb and the large cross over
the grave on the mountain. near the
hut of Mutock, may be seen at a dis.
lance of twenty or thirty versts. Ar.
rangements have been made by Gov
ernor Tchernaief, of Yakutsk, to have
the entire cairn covered with a deep
a q