My reflections, after this swoon, were as melancholy as my situation. I considered my plan as wholly defeated by these impediments and delays, and was apprehensive of not arriving at Okotsk till the rivers were broken up. In the mean time this was indispensible, if I intended to make use of the mode of sledge travelling, to reach the place called the Cross of Yudoma, or _Yudomskoi-krest_. Hence I had designed to proceed to Yakotsk by a circuitous passage down the rivers Yudoma, Maya, and Aldann[44], by which means I found that I should escape the inconveniencies of the thaw, which renders the road impracticable even to horses. But according to the calculation I had made, the hindrance of a single day might occasion me a delay of more than two months. It is necessary to have been in my place, to judge how very discouraging was my prospect; the dangers that beset me appeared in my eyes to be less terrible. At length, the 21, it was possible to proceed. The sky was still covered with clouds, and the snow fell heavily, but the wind had ceased, and we resolved to set off in spite of our apprehension of another hurricane, which would exceedingly have distressed us, as we had no hope of refuge till we came to Yamsk. We directed our course towards the sea, upon which we constantly travelled at the distance of two wersts from the shore; but in the evening we thought it prudent to approach nearer, in order to halt. The ice was perfectly smooth, and our little camp was easily erected. The next morning we rose tolerably early, and in order to avoid the curvatures of the shore, we made for the main ocean. We had observed some bays the preceding evening, but they were less extensive than one which we crossed in the afternoon of this day. Unfortunately, when we were opposite to it, a gust of wind prevented us from examining it. I understood, from my guides, that it was called from the river Iret, which falls into it, that it is almost entirely closed, and is dry in summer, when the sea is low. In spring it abounds with water fowl. The inhabitants of Yamsk and its environs catch them with nets, and hunt them with sticks in the moulting season. The shallowness of the bay, which is in all places fordable, is favourable to the diversion of these sportsmen. Upon the approach of night we came on shore, and halted till the morning in a wood of firs, upon the banks of the river Iret.