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CHAPTER VII.

Second Ice Journey.-Preparations.- Plan.-Departure.-Bear Hunt.--First Encampment on the Ice of the Polar Sea.-Four Pillar Island.-Ice broken up and covered with Sea- Water.-Hummocks.-Deposit of Provisions.-State of the Ice. -Easter.-White Bears.-The Bear Islands.Return to Nishne Kolymsk.

THE preparations for our second journey over the ice resembled in most particulars those already described, being only much more extensive, as our journey was intended to be much longer, and our party more numerous. Some additional articles, however, appeared to be requisite on the present occasion, when our nightly halts would be made on the ice at a distance from land, and when we might expect to encounter frequently hummocks of ice, similar to those which we had met with at Schelagskoi Noss. The advanced season rendered it also probable that we might sometimes find the snow imperfectly frozen. On these accounts we took with us crowbars for breaking the ice, a portable boat made of skins for crossing lanes of open water, and a quantity of whalebone to bind under the runners of our sledges, when we came to places either covered with unsound snow, or with crystals of salt left by the overflowing of the

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sea-water. I added to the instruments, a dippingneedle, and a sounding-line, We took only 30 days' provision for ourselves and our dogs (of which we had 240) trusting that our stock might occasionally be replenished by success in bear-hunting.

Especial care was bestowed on the selection and preparation of the travelling sledges which were to serve us throughout the present expedition; the six best and longest sledges, and the strongest and best dogs, were set apart for the purpose; the stores and provisions were to be conveyed in fourteen other sledges, which were to be sent back to Nishne Kolymsk as they should be emptied. The dogs belonging to the travelling sledges were sent forward to Sucharnoje, where they arrived on the 16th of March, and were prepared for the journey by good feeding and rest. M. von Matiuschkin followed on the 22nd to superintend the distribution and packing of the stores. When I arrived on the 25th, every thing was in perfect order for our departure. The sledges were all packed, the lading of each weighing about 30 pood; the runners had been carefully covered with a thick coat of smooth ice; and the dogs were in excellent condition. My companions were M. von Matiuschkin, the retired serjeant Reschetnikow, and the sailor Nechoroschkow. We were joined by a merchant of Kolymsk, named Bereshnoi, who had requested to be allowed to accompany us, on his own account, and in two of his own sledges. The drivers whom I had selected for the travelling sledges were three Cossacks, a Russian peasant, and two Jukahirs. The provision-sledges were driven partly by Cossacks and partly by citizens of Kolymsk, and Jukahirs.

We started on the 26th of March, with a light S.E. breeze, a cloudy sky, and a temperature of +21°. We slept at the lesser Baranow rock, at the same powarna where we had halted in our first journey. We found here a quantity of drift-wood, and loaded our sledges with as much as they could carry, forming a stock of fuel, which, with due frugality, would last twenty-five days. The dip of the needle was here 77° 37' N.

My instructions directed me to begin our researches at Cape Schelagskoi, but after our recent journey to that Cape, I judged it more advisable, for several reasons, to go at once to the northward, from the Baranow rocks. First, our deposits of provisions, on which the success of the expedition mainly depended, might not have been in safety in the neighbourhood of the Tschuktschi; secondly, the immense hummocks which I had seen on that part of the coast would have presented a formidable obstacle to our progress; and, thirdly, so large a portion of the short remaining season would have been consumed in reaching the Cape, and our dogs would have been so far wearied, that we should probably have accomplished very little towards the true object of our journey.

On the 27th, at 11 A. M., as soon as the mist had cleared away, we took our departure in a due northerly direction. The twenty-two sledges, of which our caravan consisted, formed a line of more than half a werst in length: so that the foremost and the hindmost of the party often lost sight of each other. When we When we had gone two wersts from the coast, we found ourselves in the midst of a chain

of hummocks, about seven wersts in breadth, running parallel with the shore; the hummocks were high and rugged, and the hollows amongst them were filled with loose snow, so that the passage was difficult; and about the middle of the group we came to a wide fissure in the ice. After three hours labour, we found ourselves on the outside of the chain of hummocks, nine wersts from the shore, on an extensive plain of ice, broken only by a few scattered masses, resembling rocks in the ocean. The hope of being enabled to pursue our way uninterruptedly, made us regard the view, at first, with something of the pleasure which a seaman feels at the sight of the open sea, after passing through intricate channels, amongst dangerous rocks. The dogs quickened their pace of their own accord, as if they shared our feelings. When we had gone eleven wersts further, I halted, to allow them to rest, and to wait for the provision-sledges. The dogs had

just lain down in the snow, when an enormous white bear made his appearance from behind a hummock, looking as if he meant to attack us; but the loud barking and howling of the dogs soon made him take to flight. The whole party followed in quick pursuit, with guns, spears, bows and arrows. The chase lasted three hours; the bear, after receiving three arrows and two balls in his body, seemed enraged thereby rather than subdued, and turned furiously on the foremost of his pursuers; at that instant another ball, in his breast, turned his rage on a new assailant; the Cossack, who had fired, dexterously received the enraged brute on his lance, directing its point into his mouth, and, with admirable skill and force, succeeded in overthrowing

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him; the other hunters ran to aid their companion, and the beast was soon despatched; he measured above nine feet from snout to tail, was very fat, and so heavy that twelve good dogs could hardly drag him along. We judged that he must weigh above thirty-five pood.

Whilst this was going on, some of the provisionsledges came up, and the drivers told us that two of their companions had been overset in a deep cleft among the hummocks, and could not be extricated without more help. I immediately had three sledges emptied, and sent to their aid; and to our great joy the poor men rejoined us two hours afterwards, quite uninjured, though very cold and wet.

The day was now so far spent, and both men and dogs were so wearied by their exertions, that we determined to stay where we were for that night. The tent, before described, formed the centre of the little camp; four smaller tents, or pologi, belonging to the merchant Bereshnoi, and to the richest of our drivers, were pitched near it; and the sledges were drawn up, so as to form an outer circle, within which the dogs were tethered. This arrangement afforded entire security from any unforeseen attack by bears, for they could not approach the camp without being discovered at some distance by the keen scent of the dogs. The weather was beautiful, and we availed ourselves of the bright evening twilight to warm ourselves before lying down to rest, by practising shooting and throwing spears at a mark. A piece of ice was made to represent the bear, certain spots on it were marked as the eyes, the nose, and the heart, and whoever hit one of them obtained a right

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