So when De Long waved me permission to leave him, I hoisted sail, shook out one reef, and as we gathered way the boat shot forward like an arrow, and the spray flew about us like feathers. Heretofore we had been running dead before the wind on our southwest course for the land, but the heavy sea and lively motion of the boat caused the sail to jibe and fill on the other tack, whereupon we would broach to and ship water. For this reason I hauled up the boat several points, or closer to the wind, and our condition at once improved. Now that we were separated I resolved to concern myself directly with the safety of my own boat; so that when one of the men said that De Long was signaling us, I told him he must be wrong, and further directed that no one should see any signals now that we were cast upon our own resources. When last seen, the second cutter was about one thousand yards astern of us, the first cutter probably midway between, and there is no doubt in my mind that she then foundered. A conversation with the only two surviving members of the first cutter (Nindemann and Noras) has confirmed me in this belief; for they witnessed the scene as I have described it, and state that it was the general opinion of DeLong’s crew that I had shared the same fate simultaneously with Chipp.—_Melville’s “In the Lena Delta.”_ TALK ABOUT BOOKS. There can scarcely be a sadder story than that of the loss of the Jeannette and the subsequent search for DeLong and his party. No event of recent years has caused more horror in the public mind and led to more urgent expostulation against further Arctic exploration. We believe, however, that as a better knowledge of the aim and value of these undertakings grows on the public, censure will be removed. Certainly a careful reading of Melville’s “In the Lena Delta”[C] produces this result. The book is perhaps more full of horror than most readers imagine, but after reading there can be but one opinion; terrible as it all is, it has been worth the suffering. It is worth while to have died bravely in carrying out orders. The unflinching resolution of those men places them among the heroes of modern history. You can not help feeling that there is a wonderful amount of unusual heroism in the story. The Jeannette expedition has furnished a much needed lesson on the nobility of endurance. The results to our knowledge of these regions have been considerable, the people of Siberia, the Russian exile, the homes and customs of various tribes are more fully explained to us in Melville’s notes than elsewhere; again, no future exploration will be open to equal dangers.