The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-07-27
DE LONGS HARD FATE.

visited, whites correspondent OF the
New York Herald, is fifteen miles
northeast of the i,land Of Stolboy. the
prominent pillar like rock in the LENA,
where the river branches east to Diko6.
De Long had all along imagined that
Stolboy was myth, and supposed be
had passed it long before, and two
weeks before his death he said in his
note book: "Quite believe we are on
the island of Titary and twenty five
miles from Kumak. Surka." He was
bewildered by the maze of rivers flow
proper, and in bis own weak con lition
had put the distances accomplished
longer than they really were. When he
reached the bluff on which were the
doctor and Ah Sam and under the shell
ter 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 miles
from the Kumak Surka, which few
days before he had imagined only twen-
ty-fve miles away.
Fate seemed against him. Had he
landed thirty miles further west he
would have struck village of natives
who reside north of Bulun all winter.
He also passed by within twenty versts
of hut where twenty reindeer carcasses
were hanging for the winter food. He
ha9Rg8gt9niads5lv id5l 70 NIB ibotg99a ottf99grs cn On ttss tts
ice when the Jeanette went down, and
though deer were rare there was no
lack of ptarmigan. De Long is con-
stantly recording here numerous ptar-
migan 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
Nlnderman were sent away by De Long
large flock of 200 ptarmigan settled
within quarter of mile of the party,
but none were shot. With single shot
gun in AlexiH's hands all might have been
saved. The season was too late for deer,
A strange incident, also, came to nv
knowledge at Gemovialck. 1t seems
that some Tonguse natives, travelling
from the north to Bikoff, saw the foot.
prints of the party two days old, and
picked up the Rem ineton which De
Long had left in hut half way from
the landing place to the bluff. The
natives were frightened and. thought
that the footrrints were those of SNUG
glers o. robbers, end left the ground
without following. On arriving at
Gemovialck they heard of the presence
OF the Melville party of three, and the
less of the captains party, aui they
fearing to be punished for not following
the footsteps, kept their information 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 we're bulky, as we'll as
the scientific instruments and other
useless mpediments-a 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. The things filled one
entire dog sled when found near the
bluff, After Noros and Ninderman
left the parry did not make more than
eighteen miles from Oc'ober 9 to the
3O!h,- De Ii0gsia iaT' al charts up from the
place under the bl # where MIR. Collins
and the others d ed. and where they
would have been swept away by the
III,
where the doctor and An Sam perished.
But he only succee ded in carry.
rying the chart case mp. Even be-
fore Noros and Ninderman left De Long
was very weak, he used to walk ten
minutes and then lie down to rest, say
ing to the men, Don't mind me; 60
on as far as you can. will follow"
During his wanderinRs on the delta De
Long built large bonfire as high as
thirty feet every night, the last one
being few hundred yards from the
bluff, where they all perished, in the
hope of attracting the attention of
parties who, he kept saying, would Ger.
tainly be out looking for him But the
fires blazed in vain. There was not
human being at the time of their death
within a hundred miles. Melyille's
party at Gemovialck were about this
distance away.
The blaze from such large bonfire
on the plains of the delta should have
been seen in that frosty air from forty
to fifty versts away, and had the search
parties been out the probabilities are
that De Long would have been rescued
The river was open till October 5, as
De Long says in his notebook. The
Lena's mouth near Gemovialck. is very
wide and very shallow. It was frozen
over and broken up repeatedly from the
time Melville and his party landed to
October 5.
The tomb and the large cross over
the grave on the mountain, near the hut |
OF Mutock, may be seen at distance of |
twenty or thirty versts. Arrangements |
have been made by Governor Tcher-
naieff, OF Yakutsk, to have the entire
cairn covered with deep layer of earth
10 prevent the possibility of the sun
tbawing the bodies in the tomb. If this
be done promptly doubtless the bodies
will remain untouched by decay for,
ever, as the eroanA remaiae froson on
the delta all the year raGna at depth
Of two feet. NJ bodies can thel efore
be remOye ed at later date If desired.
General Tchernaieff has also caused a
Russian inscription to be prepared
10 be placed on the tomb, and
that every care shall be taken to pre-
serve the tomb and the monument in
good condition. Captain JurRens. chief
'f Russian meteorological expedition
10 the Lena delta, who leaves for the
lorth in ten days and will reside on the
ielta for eighteen months, has consented
% keep lookout for relics of Chipp's
boats during his journeys and will urge
he natives ~ we'll to keep a lookout,
md reward them if they find anything.
Iaptain Jurgens has built a wooden
in NH ha FOL