On the morning of the 15th October another start was made along the river-bank. The night was passed in a kind of cave at the side of the river. Their supper consisted of a piece of seal-skin pantaloons, which was soaked in water and then burned to a crust. They passed a wretched night. Next day they made for some hills they saw in the distance. No willow could be found, and a piece of seal-skin was their only food. They passed the night in a ravine, where they dug a hole in the snow. On the 17th they struggled over streams and sand-spits, and had again to pass the night in a hole in the snow. The wind was too high to allow a fire, and it was too cold to allow sleep. On the 18th they reached a ruined hut almost filled with snow. They cleared out sufficient to give them sleeping-room, and after taking some willow-tea and a piece of seal-skin, they lay down for the night. On the 19th they were so weak that they had to rest about every five minutes. In the afternoon they reached three huts, and in one of them was a kayak containing something like sawdust. It was blue-moulded and tasteless, but it was believed to be fish. As they found nothing more, they ate it, and soon after they had an attack of dysentery. They stayed in the hut all day, and on the 21st found themselves too weak to move farther. On the 22nd October they heard a noise outside, and Nindemann, when he looked through a crack in the door, saw something move, and thought it was a reindeer. He took down the rifle and was moving to the door when it opened, and at the entrance stood a man. Seeing Nindemann with the rifle, he expected to be shot, and immediately fell on his knees and began to supplicate. Nindemann threw the rifle down and beckoned eagerly to the man to come in. After some hesitation, the stranger entered, and the two men, anxious to be friendly, offered him some of the fish. He shook his head, and made signs that it was not fit to eat. Nindemann and Noros went out, and found that the man had come in a sleigh with reindeer; but there was nothing to eat. He gave Nindemann a pair of deer-skin boots and a deer-skin, and in return Nindemann gave him a shirt. The man made signs that he would require to go, and held up three or four fingers to indicate that he would return. Whether he meant in three or four hours, or three or four days, they could not tell.