Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-17

the breasts Of the deserving ones. who received
their cash and goods at the same time. One
spokesman for village said: We now know
what foreigners are and will not fear them.
We VIII spread the news everywhere along the
coast. so that all expeditions. all vino may
reach our land in want, may be assisted
WHERE COLD Is GREATEST.
"On my way to and from the Lena delta
passed through Verchoyansk which mas come
to be considered the arctic pole of the greatest
known cold The temperature there on January
10 and IL. 1886, was 81 degrees Fahrenheit below
zero. When the thermometer stauas at that
point, 1t 10 very difficult to breathe in>the open
air. The strain on the physical system in that
sort OF climate, food being always scarce. is
fearful Lieut.. Harder, who went with me to
get the bodies Of De Long and his companions.
was III for years after his return to the United
States. and Mr.. Hunt another naval officer de-
| tailed to help US. suffered so much that he af-
terward died. Yet. To- show how people are
attached to wherever their homes NAV be, the
| natives Of Lena delta say: There is no place
like this; we would die If we were taken away
| from mere
The body of Erickson, buried in the ice by
! De Long. we could never fad. 1t was no. be-
| cause that method was not satisfactory one
| for preserving it, You have heard how MANI
I moths in the flesh and with the original hide
| soil OF Siberia / myself part of one of
! those huge animals. which had been resurrected
| BY thaw. The beast had been dead for nobody
knows how many thousands of years, but it
was kept perfectly fresh There are plenty
more of such buried monsters in that region
and the natives know where many of them are
| but they VIII no: tell, partly because they do
not want to be set to work at digging them up.
| and also for the reason that they have "a super
stitous fear of them"
| II seems wonderful that Nansen and his men
should be willing to risk their lives by taking
up her task where she left it. 1t will be re-
membered that she was u big Yacht. bought
from an En9lishman By James Gordon Bennett,
who bad got from Lieut.. De Long.U. S. N, the
notion OF an expedition to seek the poie-that
elusive goal of arctic navicators. Officers and
sailors were supplied by the United States navy
and the vessel sailed from ran Francisco in
july. 1879. furnished with provisions for two
years. De Long was in command.
THE JEANETTE PARTY.
The other officers First Lieut.. Chipp,
Navigator Danenhower and Chief Engineer
Melville. DIR. Amber was tine ships surgeon. a
member of the New York Herdlfs staff named
Collins acted ~ meteorological and there was a
naturalist named Sewcomb. There were
| twenty live sailors and Chinese cook. All sam,
and two Indian hunters were taken aboard at
ST. Michaels, Alaska. The expedition passed
through EcrinS strait and made the discovery
later on that what had previously been known
as Wraagell Land really an island. To the
north OF that island the ship got jammed in the
ice.
Here she stuck for eighteen months. drifting
all the time n1rthward and westward toward
the pole. carried By the curren. which Nanseu
hopes to profit by. Finally she was nipped by
the ice and sank. leaving her officers and crew
| on the frozen ocean. They Travelled southwark
Il rlau
| making for the mouths of the Lena river.
Being Obliged to drag their boats the ice.
! their progress was not more than three miles a
day. But this the least part OF the diseour-
| aSemens. for the observ atoms taken daily
showed that the zee field over which they were
| journeying Was steadily drifting nortnward.
Thus. after toiling forward laboriously all day
/ long. they would sometimes find themselves
| farther north than when they started in the
! morning. They discovered an island up to
| that time unknown. which they called Bennett
| Island. There they rested for ten days. being
! sure that j. was STATIONARY, at ali events. A.
| length they reached the New Siberian Islands
| 20 which the natives OF the north coast go out
/ in .he summer time TO dig fer fossil ivory-the
| buried tusks OF the extinct mammoth But
| autumn had arrived and 10 human beings were
| to be foInd. Soon after passing those islands
they found open water and launched their
! boats
| TAKING TO THE BOATS.
! They had three boats-a cutter. a whaleboa
and dingy. The last was not seaworthy. On
| board of the dngy were Lieut.. Chip. Ice
/ Pilot Dunbar ami seven Sailors. In the whale
boat were Danenhower. Melville, Newcomb and
eight of the men. De Long wa in the Gu tier.
| with DR.. Amber, Collins. the cook An sam.
and nine sailors. A storm came up and sep
! alated the boats. Doubtless the dingv was
swampsd and all on board of her were lost.
! because nothing was ever heard OF them after
| ward The whaleboat finally made its wav into
| one of the many branches OF The Lena delta.
By most fortunate accident three beiated
| natives were met with. and the latter b:ough;
the wanderers to their village, where they were
4 taken care of and fed.
| De Longs boat struck one OF the northern
| branches of the Lena The officers AMI men
deserted the cutter and wadei ashore abou,
Land it was found that the leg OF one of the
men. named Erickson. who had served as
steersman, was frozen. II they could only
| have known. there an inhabited village
! within ten miles TO the westward. Only n day
! or two later rome boys from this village found
| the camp which they had occupied and picked
up shotgun that had been LETT behind. Mean
/ while De Long and his party had built a sledg-
and on it they dragged Erickson 100 miles
crossing innumerabie little streams which
traverscd the delta Without being aware OF
the fac: they passed by place where mum
Der Of reindeer were cached IN summer huts b,
natives To have found them would have saved
all hands from starvation, for BY tits time thei
| supply of fo8d exhausted and they had
been oh iged tn eat their dogs. Finally, it wa,
necessary 20 cut of E-isk-eG's leg and he soou
died. His body was buried in the ice near /:
| deserted hat. on the outside Of which O board
! with an inscription was fastehe l.
The party being TOO VT akened by Starvation
| to advance fur hey. two sailors named hinder
! mann and Noros, who we're ilie strongest were
| sent ahead to look for help. key Travelled
fifteen davs, AZ the end of which they paused Il
deserted hat, finding il impossible 20 go on
! They had eaten the boots. Early the mex
! morning. when they had given up all hove
they heard noise outside the hut and locke
| oIt, discovering n sled drawn by reindeer
| which 4 native had brought for the purpose ot
procuring certain nets. which had been LETT be.
hind in yEis summer filming ilice. There We RI
FIVE other natives in camp zen niles away
and they quickly came to the rescue with fond
ntterwaId taking the lost sailors 10 their winte,
I village.
Now. from the spot where Ninlermaur ant
Noros met the natives il OIL. twcu.y mIics
/ to the pace where De Long aud his corAuunion,
| had lam themselves down to die for tie sailor,
I Ead travele,; in a circEitous course. With taC
! reindeer tie peri>hing men couiJ have Lees
! reached rhnt same night. DE Long, Anb.cl
| ard tine Chinanlan would have been saved. TO;
! thcv still survived. rs was subsequently, shOSt
| bv the entries which De Long made i'll hi,
| journal up 70 the last moment. Unfortunately
| the sailors could not make themselves under