On the 19th of September, 1881, Melville’s party had the good fortune to fall in with natives, who treated the forlorn men with great kindness and generosity, and on the 26th of September they reached the Russian village of Geemovialocke, where they subsisted until they were able to communicate with the commandant at Belun. Upon the separation of the boats already described, De Long experienced the same threatened destruction of the first cutter that had caused Melville so much anxiety in the whale-boat. After three miserable days and nights of exposure to the merciless seas, he decided to make a landing by wading ashore September 17, at a point 73° 25´ north latitude, 26° 30´ east longitude. Owing to the shallow water, it was found necessary to abandon the boat, and the wretched, enfeebled party, destitute, save for four days’ scant provisions, began their fatal march on the inhospitable tundra of northern Siberia, in search of a settlement ninety-five miles distant. De Long’s record of this weary tramp is one long agony of a slowly perishing party. Everything was abandoned that was not absolutely necessary, but in spite of lightened loads, the half-frozen men limped and hobbled slowly along, falling in their tracks, the weaker assisted by the stronger, but even then the ground covered was inconsiderable, so that on September 21, upon reaching some deserted huts, De Long records:— “According to my accounts we are now thirty-seven miles away from the next station! and eighty-seven from a probable settlement. We have two days’ rations after to-morrow morning’s breakfast, and we have three lame men who cannot make more than five or six miles a day; of course, I cannot leave them, and they certainly cannot keep up with the pace necessary to take.” The hunters were fortunate in securing occasional deer, but the unfortunate condition of Erickson, whose frozen feet necessitated the amputation of his toes, retarded their progress, and October came in cold and blustery to find the miserable party still far away from human aid. For nine days more they struggled along the barren shores of the Lena; game failed, and their food was exhausted. Erickson died and was buried in the river. Nindemann and Noros started on a forced march for assistance from the nearest settlement at Ku Mark Surka; they carried their blankets, one rifle, forty rounds of ammunition, and two ounces of alcohol—but no food! On October 10, De Long makes the following entry:—