The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1884-11-01


the others came up and joined us.
They had been fishing at the place to
which | was trying to get during the
preceding day. None of us could I'M
derstand their language, SO we had re-
course to signs. The sailors found an
old goose and fish and venison, all of
which excepting the venison was de-
cayed. We then began to form yo-
cabulary of the Kakut tongue, the ma
tives soon understanding what we
wanted, and readily telling us the
names of objects which we pointed
out. l sketched reindeer, and the
natives al once exclaimed 'olean,' and
in this way we rapidly wrote down SO
or 60 of their words. We drank our
tea, and supposing they might like
some of our alcohol for a drink / put
a tablespoonful in the tea for the ma
tives. They took to it kindly and one
of them who was called Theodore,
wanted to take drink from the demi-
john, but l prevented him. Finally l
took knife, which one Of the natives
carried, and by signs asked him where
he had gotten it. He Immediately be-
gan to initiate the motions of a black
smith beating the blade into shape and
said, 'Bulunga !Bulunga p This turned
out to be Cossack settlement on the
Lena, Bulun, and this was the first in
timation had that they knew of its
| whereabouts. l at once drew in my
notebook sketch of village, put
ting two mosques in it. The Kakut
rubbed out one of the mosques and
again exclaimed 'Bulunga.' l then
drew picture of the whale boat with
all the party in it. and represented one
of the natives in his canoe leading the
boat, the other two padding along
after us. They understood this, but
when l insisted that they were to take
us to Bulunga, they made me under
stand that it was impossible, because
of the ice in the river, which was not
strong enough to travel over, but yet
was thick was heavy enough to impede
navigation.
PROCEEDING WITH YAKUT PILOTS.
eve then told the natives" con-
tinued Mr.. Melville, ''that we wanted
to get to place where we could eat,
sleep and dry our clothes. They agreed
to pilot us, and we followed them to
Borkhia, the place on the headland to
which | had been trying to get all day.
The place was deserted, and but two
of the huts were found to be tenable.
The names of the natives were Malinka
Tomat, or Little Thomas, Karini and
Theodore. That evening one of them
said he would go for the head man of
the village, and during the night Karini
LETT the camp tor this purpose. In the
morning, being anxious to push on to
Bulun, and being unable to persuade
Malinka Tomat to pilot us, we pushed
on to the south but soon found our
selves in the great bay which had de-
villed us SO before. By 3 O'Clock in
the afternoon the weather became bad
and we went back but night set in,
and l sheltered the boat under the lee
ola shoal, driving the tent poles into
the mud to hold her. We passed a
terrible night, and those who were not
| frozen before were badly frozen. In
the morning the snow had fallen,
changing the whole appearance of the
country, but l landed near our camp,
and the men soon found Borkhia and
we went back there. As we approached
four natives came to greet us, the fourth
being Wassilli Koolgar, or civilian
with the Cut Ear" the head man of
the village. We remained there over
night, Wassilli assuring me that we
could not go to Bulun but l was so
urgent that he finally said yes. called
his intention to the fact that our boat
drew thirty inches of water, while his
required but two or three inches. He
put his paddle into the water at the
stern of the whale boat to gauge her
depth, and cut notch in the handle,
showing that he fully comprehended
what was expected Of him.
ON THE WAY TO A SETTLEMENT.
"The start was accordingly made, two
of the canoes going ahead and one in the
rear. but we found that Warsilli was I'M
able to pilot us over the shoal He stood
to the north and then to the east, taking
us out to sea to one of the outlying is
lands, a voyage requiring three or four
days. During this trip they set their
nets and caught us some excellent fresh
fish. Our legs were badly swollen with
frost and the hard labor which we had
to perform. On the fourth or fifth day
with the natives we arrived at the village
of Arree, which consisted of about a
half dozen huts. We then learned that
Wassilli had been shot in the arm and
was too weak to go on any further with
us then. He went off and presently came
back in boat which had been made
from finch plank, shaped like whale
boat, in which were seated a piratical
looking man named Spiradon, two women
each of whom had lost an eye, and a
young man, who was said to be Spira-
don's nephew. This youth, Kapiocan,
was to pilot us. They brought US small
amount of provision, consisting of a
goose within the carcass of which three
others were stuffed. This was to be our
food supply, with what fish we could
catch until we reached Jamavialock.
"We remained at Arree over night and
went on for two days, arriving at jana
4. nGl. L