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21. hour-glass huts, and at the mouth of a shallow stream a long
promontory running far out into the sea. This was Cape Memaitch,—
whither I was bound because the Russians had heard reports of a
United States schooner touching at this point and taking away full
cargoes of ore to San Francisco.
The first question I asked was whether or not it was true that such a
vessel had actually stopped there, and was answered in the
affirmative. A villager offered to guide me to the spot from which the
ore had been taken. I was naturally elated, for there was now a
prospect of finding something that would benefit my employers. The
next morning we started out along the shore. The guide led me to
the face of a sandstone bluff, and said, "Here is the place from which
they took the ore." To say that I was dumfounded would be to put it
mildly. When I had recovered sufficiently to fairly get my breath, I
asked why this stuff had been loaded on the vessel, and the guide
calmly replied that it had been done to keep the ship from turning
over. It appeared that the vessel was a Russian, and not an
American, after all. This place had been a favorite rendezvous for
traders, and the schooner had come to exchange the products of
civilization for the skins offered by the natives. Of course, when the
vessel was unloaded it was necessary to secure ballast, and for this
purpose the sandstone had been brought into requisition. I shrugged
my shoulders, and tried to take it philosophically.
Our next move was to start on the return trip around the head of the
Okhotsk Sea to Kaminaw. We had a beautiful road over the smooth
tundra. Konikly was now leading with "Old Red," and every time we
stopped, the two would fight, for the latter was very loath to share
my affection with Konikly, whom he considered a parvenu.
22. Killing Deer for Dog Food.
As we were speeding along the beaten track the Koraks would break
out in a wild strain of music; then Snevaydoff would sing one of the
Russian peasant-songs, and occasionally, not to be outdone, I would
give them a few bars of some such touching lyric as "A Hot Time,"
or "After the Ball." Thus we whiled away the long hours on the road.
Every few hours we changed places, letting each team lead in turn,
for only the driver of the head team had any work to do. The others
could even lie down and go to sleep if they wished, for the dogs
drew as steadily and as patiently as mules. It seemed second nature
to them. I used to sit and wonder how they could be trained to
undergo such severe labor. I found out that, when only four months
old, they are put into the hands of the small boys to train. They
make up little teams of pups, with the mother dog, perhaps, as
leader, and bring in water from the neighboring stream or drag in
the firewood. By the time they are a year old they are ready to be
turned over to a grown-up, who hitches up one or two of the young
dogs with some steady old fellows, and it is not long before the
23. training is complete. This method not only trains the dogs, but it
teaches the boys how to handle them, so that by the time they are
young men they are expert drivers.
After several days of fine going we arrived at Kaminaw, where I
found the Ghijiga magistrate, who had come on his annual collecting
tour. Each of the Koraks pays an annual poll-tax of four and a half
dollars' worth of skins. These are taken to Ghijiga, and there
auctioned off to the highest bidder. All these northern natives pay
this tax, except the Tchuktches, who refuse to pay a cent. I found
the magistrate in one of the huts, reclining on several bearskins, and
kindly and affable as ever. Over him was arranged a sort of canopy
to protect him from particles of dust or dirt that might fall from
between the rafters of the building. He was dressed in his full
regimentals of green and gold, with a sword at his side. He gave me
a fine cup of coffee, and made me take a pound of the fragrant
berry to cheer me on my way in to Ghijiga. I jealously guarded it,
and made the grounds do duty three or four times over till every
particle of the caffein had been extracted.
24. CHAPTER XV
A PERILOUS SUMMER TRIP
The tundra in summer—Crossing the swift Paran River—Literally
billions of mosquitos—Unique measures of protection
against these pests—Mad race down the Uchingay River on
a raft—Lighting a fire with a pistol—Narrow escape from
drowning—Fronyo proves to be a man of mettle—Pak is
caught stealing from slim supply of provisions and receives
chastisement—Subsisting on wild onions and half-ripe
berries—Help at last.
After a rest of two days we started out on the home stretch toward
Ghijiga, which lay three hundred miles to the southwest. As the
snow was now very soft the wooden runners of our sledges were
useless. The wet snow stuck to them, and made progress almost
impossible. We therefore purchased sets of whalebone runners, cut
from the ribs of the whale, and pared down to a quarter of an inch
in thickness. These strips are pinned to the sledge runners, one
piece overlapping another, and the joints worked down smooth.
These are as good on wet snow as the iced wooden runners are on
dry snow. We made the three hundred miles in four days, which was
doing fairly well, considering the fact that we came back with only
half the number of dogs that we started out with. It is true,
however, that we had made one or two valuable acquisitions in the
dog line, especially Konikly, with whom I became more and more
pleased. We fed the dogs on the best the land could provide, and
kept them on the road from twelve to fourteen hours a day. Our
provisions were, of course, almost gone, and we were coming back
practically as "empties."
25. In making long trips the natives frequently have to cache a part of
their provisions along the way for use on the return trip. They make
a little scaffold on the stumps of trees or between two or three living
trees. Even though not set up very much above the snow line, the
snow is so deep that by the time summer has melted it away the
goods are high and dry. No one except the owner would ever think
of touching these provisions.
Upon my return I found that the snows were fast melting, and green
tints were beginning to appear on the hillsides. I thought, however,
that there would be enough snow to allow me to take a little run
down the peninsula that lies between the two northern arms of the
Okhotsk Sea in search of a deposit of cinnabar of which I had heard
rumors; but after two days of hard work, urging the dogs over bare
tundra, I gave it up and came back in disgust. By June 1 the snow
was quite gone, except upon the highest hills and in the secluded
nooks where deep drifts had lain. The river was still very high, and
filled with floating ice. The sun was now visible twenty hours out of
the twenty-four.
26. Expedition on march—"Konikly" in foreground.
I was soon ready for a summer trip. The services of my old friend
Chrisoffsky and half a dozen of his horses were secured, and, taking
along my two Koreans, who had wintered at Ghijiga while I was
making my trip to the shores of Bering Sea, I started out, sitting in
the saddle which had been left in the village thirty years before by
Mr. George Kennan. He was then a leading spirit in the American
Russian Telegraph Company, whose object was to build a line across
Bering Strait and connect the two continents. Of this saddle there
was nothing left but the tree and a little leather on the cantle,
bearing a San Francisco stamp. Mrs. Braggin said that Mr. Kennan
had given it to her when he left; I rigged it up with stirrups and used
it all summer.
Plodding northward, we reached Chrisoffsky's place about bedtime,
soaked with mud and water. The tundra was like a great marsh,
27. through which we had to flounder. We tried to keep to the beds of
the little creeks in which the water had worn away the moss and
turf. Where this was not possible, we had to wade through almost
bottomless mud. Even though lightly loaded, the horses kept sinking
to the girth, and it was only by sheer hard work that we were able to
average fifteen miles a day. Some days we made only five.
Our objective point was the Uchingay, which means "Red," River. It
is a comparatively small stream, flowing into the Paran, near its
head. The natives had told me that at the head waters of this
stream there were two red mountains where the rocks were filled
with shiny yellow points. This place lay about three hundred miles
north of Ghijiga.
As we neared the foot-hills the trail became better. The tundra was
one mass of brilliant flowers, like the wrecks of rainbows. There
were plants of almost infinite variety, and the ground was like a
great expanse of variegated carpeting. But the flowers! They were
indescribably beautiful. Turning the shoulder of a hill, we would
come upon a broad expanse of solid pink or scarlet, acres in extent,
and this would give way to a blue, a yellow, or a lavender, either in
solid color or in various blends. We enjoyed these beauties of
nature, but, at the same time, did not fail to notice the fine beds of
wild onions, which we pulled and ate with great gusto. We craved
vegetables in summer as keenly as we had craved fat in winter.
Hardly an hour passed that we did not have a shot at a duck or a
goose, and our journey was consequently a continual feast. Konikly
and Howka accompanied us. They lived like princes on the tundra
rats, which swarmed about us. The dogs caught them cleverly, and
after one good shake, bolted them whole. These rodents were the
size of a small house rat.
28. Across the Tundra.
On June 22 we crossed the high pass leading into the valley of the
Paran River. My aneroid showed an elevation of six thousand feet.
That afternoon we were greeted with a storm of sleet and snow,
which drove us to the shelter of a high precipice, where we stayed
close till the following day. The descent once fairly begun, we soon
came into a more genial atmosphere. Below us in the valley we
could see the heavily wooded banks of the Paran where Chrisoffsky
and his two sons were to leave me with my two Koreans and Fronyo,
the Tunguse guide. That night we camped on the bank of the river.
We were now in the primeval wilderness and had to subsist off the
land. There were fish to catch and there was game to shoot, so
there was little danger of our coming to grief. We had with us some
fish-nets. These were made of horsehair obtained by barter from
Central Siberia. These nets are large enough to hold a good-sized
29. salmon. By placing them at the mouths of little creeks, and then
scaring the fish down into them, it was not difficult to secure plenty
to eat.
The Paran, even on its upper reaches, was a formidable stream two
hundred yards wide, at this season swollen by melting snows. It was
imperative that we cross this river, for the Uchingay flowed into it
from the other side. Old Chrisoffsky had averred that I would never
get across alive, but I had assured him that I could if there was
timber near by. I had already guaranteed to pay for any horses that
I might lose during the trip. When we came down to the bank of the
river and saw the swift, sullen tide, the old man laughed and said, "I
told you so." I knew that he would be an impediment to me, and
that he would do all he could to prevent my taking the horses
across, so I answered that as it was impossible to cross I would go
into camp and wait for the water to go down. The old gentleman hit
the trail for home the next day, carrying the tale that for once the
American was beaten, and must await the pleasure of the Paran
River. He would have been surprised had he seen us that very night
safely on the other side with our baggage and horses intact. I
confess the crossing was no easy feat, but it had to be done. As the
river narrowed to a gorge with dangerous rapids less than a half
mile below where we stood, I went three miles up the stream,
where I found a lot of dead trees, averaging some ten inches in
thickness. These we felled and cut into twelve-foot lengths, and
bound them together with walrus rope, and thus were provided with
a good raft. The Tunguse with his ax fashioned four rough sweeps,
and we rigged up rowlocks by mortising uprights into the side logs
of the raft.
We first tried, unsuccessfully, to cross by swimming the horses
behind the raft; the animals kept trying to climb upon the raft. So
we put back to shore. Then, making long whips, we drove the
horses into the water at a point where the current set across toward
the other bank. By vigorous whipping we showed the horses that
they were not to be allowed to come back to the shore. They were
30. swept off their feet, and after one or two attempts to return they
seemed to understand the situation, and set out for the farther
shore, which they reached after being swept about a third of a mile
down-stream. Then we shoved off and arrived without mishap on
the other bank at almost the very spot where the horses had landed,
and we found them quietly eating.
It was now late in June, and the mosquitos had arrived in full force,
though the flies as yet held off. The former pests were so thick that
the air seemed literally filled with them as with flakes of snow in a
heavy storm. The air was resonant with the deep humming sound
from their wings. We all had to wear heavy gauntlet gloves tied
tightly about the arm, and mosquito-hats made after a plan of my
own. The summer before, I had made use of a broad felt hat with
mosquito-net sewed around the rim, and with a draw-string at the
bottom to fasten it at the throat; but this had proved perfectly
useless because the least breath of wind would blow it against my
face, and instantly a hundred mosquitos were at their deadly work.
Besides this the net was continually getting torn in the underbrush;
consequently, I was driven by desperation to invent some better
way. I had with me a small roll of fine wire screen for screening gold
ore. It was "thirty-mesh" (thirty strands to the inch). The night after
we crossed the river I got out this roll of screen and cut out pieces
six inches wide and twelve inches long and sewed them around the
front rims of our hats. I cut up a couple of flour-sacks and sewed the
strong cloth all around below the wire screen and behind the hat,
gathering it with a string at the bottom. Finally I punched a small
hole through the wire for my pipe-stem, and with this piece of armor
on my head I could laugh at the mosquitos, and even succeeded in
drinking tea through the screen.
When we ate we were obliged to make a big smudge and sit in the
smoke, and we slept in our hats and gloves. The special value of the
wire screen became evident a few days later when the flies began to
appear. There was one species of fly so small that it could easily
penetrate the ordinary mosquito-netting, but could not possibly
31. negotiate this wire screen. The bite of this fly feels like the prick of a
red-hot needle, and two days later each bite becomes a running
sore. The flies are far more to be dreaded than the mosquitos.
Tundra Camp.
The poor horses were simply black with mosquitos, though we
helped them as much as we could by tying branches of leaves to the
saddles and bridles. During the night we provided a good heavy
smudge for the animals to stand in. The horses knew well its value,
and would crowd together into the smoke to escape the cruel stings
of their enemies. At about four o'clock each morning the cool
temperature quieted the mosquitos, and the horses could get two
hours of feeding. At noon, when we lunched, the horses would
crowd in upon us in the smoke, and even though beaten off, would
persistently return. Frequently the camp was pervaded by the smell
of burning hoofs and tails. The dogs suffered less, for their hair
32. protected them, and at night they would sleep with their faces
buried between their paws so that the mosquitos could not get at
their vulnerable spot.
Having crossed the river, we followed along its eastern bank till we
came to the Uchingay River, and a few days later reached the head
waters of this stream. We saw in the distance the two red
mountains. In the stream I began to find float-rock containing iron
pyrites, and I prospected carefully on all sides, but, with the
exception of a few colors now and then, there was nothing of
interest. When we came near the source of the stream I sunk shafts
to bed-rock. After a thorough examination of the region I was forced
to admit that the trip had been a failure, and prepared to retrace my
steps.
After two days on the return trail, we found the water of the stream
fairly deep, and I determined to make a raft and float down with my
Tunguse guide, examining the outcroppings on either side of the
stream, while the two Koreans took the horses down along the bank.
I estimated that I could go four times as fast as the horses, and that
if I stopped frequently to examine the formations I would arrive at
the crossing of the Paran at about the same time as the Koreans.
So we all went to work and made a raft of light dry sticks, twelve
feet long by about eight inches in diameter. There were twelve sticks
in all, and the raft was about seven feet wide. Fronyo selected three
good pieces of timber and made sweeps, the extra one being for
emergencies. We also had two good stout poles. All our baggage
was loaded on the raft, fastened down securely, and covered with a
tarpaulin. I then divided the food evenly, giving the Koreans their full
share, and telling them to go to the point where we had crossed the
Paran, and that if we did not show up within a certain time to make
their way across the river and return to Ghijiga without us. I gave
Kim the rifle and cartridges, and half the food, which amounted to a
little rice, half a pound of tea, and some hard bread. I also gave him
the fish-net. Fronyo and I kept the shot-gun.
33. We bade the Koreans good-by, and shoved off into the stream,
which was running like a mill-race. We were kept busy steering the
raft clear of the rocks with which the river was strewn. As yet we
used only the poles. I may as well confess right here that this trip on
the raft was a fearfully hazardous undertaking, for we never knew
what sort of water we had below us; so clumsy was our craft there
was no chance of escape to either bank should danger loom
suddenly ahead. But the hard work we had experienced in making
our way through the tangled woods made us reverse the dictum of
Hamlet, and, rather than bear again the ills we had been through,
we flew to others that we knew not of. The rush and swirl of the
angry waters, the narrow escape from the ragged crest of a reef that
came almost, but not quite, to the surface, and was invisible thirty
feet away, the rush past steep cliffs and flowery banks, all formed
such a delightful contrast to the weary plodding through the forest
that we were willing to welcome almost any dangers for the sake of
the exhilaration of this mad dash down the stream.
The river was only about twenty yards wide at the point where we
embarked upon it, but it broadened rapidly as it was fed by tributary
streams from either side. Now and again the current was divided by
an island, and then came together far below. All went smoothly the
first day, and at four o'clock we tied up to the bank and prepared to
camp. But so great was our difficulty in finding any dry wood that it
was bedtime before we had finished our preparations for the night.
The next morning we made an early start. It was thought that we
must be near the junction of the Uchingay and the Paran. Though a
drizzly, sleety day, it did not dampen our ardor—nor that of the
mosquitos. I had to put on a set of oilskins which greatly hampered
my movements on the raft. The river had now broadened to a
hundred and fifty feet, and was indeed a mighty torrent. We tied up
to the bank frequently to examine the outcroppings.
We had congratulated ourselves upon the ease and rapidity of our
run down-stream, when suddenly we sighted white water below and
knew there was serious trouble ahead. Our raft was so light that
34. usually it would pass over any obstacles in the bed of the stream or
at most scrape lightly upon them, turn around once or twice, and
then float off into smooth water below. Of course, if the rocks came
above the surface it was an easier matter to go around them. We
managed to pass through these rapids successfully, but immediately
below them we saw that the stream divided into two parts, the
channel to the left appearing to be the better one. We guided our
raft accordingly, and soon found ourselves rushing down a gorge at
railroad speed. The cañon began to "box up" in an ugly manner, and
our pace became so great that we lost control of our little craft.
Sweeping around a bend, we saw that a great tree had been
undermined by the water, and had fallen out over the stream so that
two thirds of the narrow channel was completely blocked. We strove
with might and main to pull the raft to one side in order to evade
disaster, but she might as well have been an ocean steamer for all
the effect of our futile endeavors. We swept under and among the
branches of the tree, and though we hugged the raft as closely as
possible, we were both brushed clean off. I seized a branch and tried
to draw myself up, but the current snatched me away, and I was
swept down-stream. I fought to regain the surface, but could not do
it. My head was fairly bursting, when I felt the current pushing me
up, and suddenly I was shot out of the water and rolled up on a
wooden incline. As soon as I could collect my wits I found, to my
amazement, that I was on the raft again. It had landed against a
rock in a shelving position, with the lower side under the water, and
the water itself had provided, in an almost miraculous manner, the
means which alone could save my life. Almost the first thing I saw
was a hand above the water, grasping the edge of the raft, and
another feeling eagerly for a place to get hold. Poor Fronyo was
under water and evidently far gone. I thrust my arm in up to the
shoulder, and got hold of his hair, and I had little difficulty in
dragging him out and up on the raft. He was almost unconscious. I
took him by the collar and the seat of the pants, and, by pounding
his stomach on the pack, soon relieved him of the water he had
swallowed. Twenty minutes later I was rejoiced to see him quite
himself again, although very weak.
35. "Kim" in Summer Camp on Tundra.
When he had sufficiently recovered, we began to think of continuing
our eventful journey. The raft was firmly lodged upon the rock, and
the force of the current threatened to break it up at any moment. I
waded into the water on the submerged end of the raft to ease the
pressure on the rock, and then, with levers, we gradually swung her
about until she drifted free of the ledge and went whirling down-
stream.
By good luck we encountered no more obstacles, and soon shot out
into open country; and, in a drenching rain, we pulled up to the
bank and hastened to make preparations for getting dry. Almost
everything we had was soaking wet, but I remembered that among
our impedimenta there was a tin box containing some matches. I
rummaged around and found it, but the matches were too damp to
use. We then hunted everywhere for a piece of flint, but could find
none. As a last resource, I opened my medicine chest and took out a
36. piece of absorbent cotton. Then we secured some dry chips from the
interior of a log of dead wood. Opening three or four of my revolver
cartridges, I poured out the powder on the absorbent cotton and
then fired a blank shell into it. This manœuver proved successful,
and we soon had a roaring fire. We stood in the smoke and let our
clothes dry while we fought the mosquitos. Now and then we would
make a dash out of our covert to bring wood for the fire. In a couple
of hours we were dry, and, lighting our pipes, we had a good smoke.
We were able to laugh, then, at the ludicrous aspect of what had
been a mighty close shave. Fronyo had done better than I, for he
had not once loosed his hold on the raft; and yet had I not been
swept off and then thrown up on the raft again, there would have
been no one to tell the story.
This Tunguse, Fronyo, was game to the backbone. When it came
time to start out once more on our crazy craft, he crossed himself
devoutly, and followed me without a murmur. He said that if God
willed that he should die on that raft he would die, that was all. If he
did not follow me wherever I went he felt that he would lose caste
with his people and be shamed forever.
That day I shot two sea-gulls which had come far inland to nest.
They were not very savory eating, being tough and insipid. These
birds usually come up into the interior in May, and, until the advent
of the salmon, they have little to eat except berries. Each day they
make a trip down to the coast and back.
All our sugar was melted, and our tea had received a preliminary
steeping; but we dried it out and made it do. The fact is, we were
rather badly off for food. I had only a few paper shells left, and half
of these were damp.
The next morning after our adventure in the gorge we cut loose
from the bank, and, in an hour's time, floated out of the Uchingay
into the Paran, which was a hundred and twenty yards wide, and
carried an immense volume of water. The river was in flood, and was
filled with small islands, which made it difficult to choose a route;
37. but all went well, and at four o'clock we pulled up to the bank at the
spot where we had first crossed, and where we had agreed to meet
the Koreans. We settled down in camp, expecting to see them on
the following day. That afternoon I had the pleasure of killing a
goose with a brood of little ones. After the mother goose had been
killed the little ones took to a small pond, but were hunted down and
killed in cold blood. It was no time to think of mere sportsmanship,
as the law of self-preservation absorbed our thoughts. Soon we
heard the "honking" of the old male goose. Fronyo took the dead
goose and cleverly set it up with a stick thrust through its neck, and
the other end stuck in the mud at the bottom of the shallow pond.
The old gentleman goose saw his spouse sitting quietly on the water,
and was just settling down near her when, not receiving any answer
to his call, he grew suspicious and started to rise again. I could ill
afford to waste a single cartridge, but I took the risk and fired. The
old fellow came to the ground with a resounding thump. We now
had over twenty pounds of good meat. Of the little goslings we
made a soup, adding a good quantity of wild onions; and it would
have been a dish fit for a king had we possessed a little salt. But our
supply had been melted.
38. Reindeer Feeding.
The next day we heard a rifle-shot in the woods. This was the signal
agreed upon, and soon Konikly and Howka came running into camp
half famished, and eagerly bolted the bones that we had thrown
aside. We could not waste a cartridge on an answering shot, so
Fronyo went out to meet the Koreans, and soon brought them into
camp, and there followed an interesting interchange of experiences
since we had parted company on the Uchingay. I found that they
had not hoarded their provisions at all, but, with true Korean
improvidence, had eaten up everything. For the morrow they had no
39. thought. I took a careful inventory of stock, and found that we had
two geese, a little wet rice, some tea, and hard bread. The outlook
was certainly not pleasing, for it would take at least six days to get
within the radius of civilization.
To recross the river we used the same heavy raft that we had
crossed on before, dragging it a mile up-stream before venturing to
embark. The horses knew that they were on the homeward trail, and
breasted the swift tide willingly.
Before starting out to cross the mountains on the way to Ghijiga, it
was imperative that we should supplement our slender stock of food,
for there would be several days during which we could hope to get
very little along the way. With our small fish-net I tried a little arm of
the river, and succeeded in catching two fine harritongas, each
weighing nearly three pounds. They were black on top, with a yellow
belly, and supplied us with a delicious white meat. The dorsal fin
extends from the neck to the tail. It is a favorite dish in Russia,
where it is called the harra. Try as I might, I could catch no more.
I decided that it would be necessary to send Fronyo on ahead with
the best horse and most of the food, with instructions to hurry to
Ghijiga and secure from the magistrate the necessary food, and then
hasten back to our relief. I wanted certain special articles of food,
and as I could not write Russian, and as Fronyo could not be
expected to know the different kinds of foreign food, I was driven to
use the primitive ideographic method. My note to the magistrate,
therefore, consisted of a series of pictures, representing roughly the
things that I wanted and the amount. First came a picture of a
Tunguse leading a pack-horse, and then the "counterfeit
presentment" of a tin of beef, with the number twelve appended.
Then came loaves of bread, with tins of butter following, and a noble
array of other edibles. To my fancy it was the most interesting
procession I had ever witnessed.
Fronyo said that we need have no fear, for if worse came to worst,
we could live on the wild onions and the inside bark of the fir-trees,
40. which grew here and there among the mountains, while on the
tundra there were plenty of tundra rats—appetizing thought! Of
course, if we had been in any real danger of starvation, we could
have immolated the horses and dogs on the altar of Epicurus, but
we did not propose to do this, except as a last resort.
The wild onion is considered the best cure for the scurvy, and is
eaten eagerly as soon as it begins to appear in the spring. It is said,
though I had no opportunity to see a case, that if scurvy is imminent
and some of the wild garlic is eaten, the body breaks out in an
eruption which passes away in a few days. The onion seems to expel
the germs through the skin by means of this eruption.
The natives strip the birchbark from the trees while it is still green,
and cut it into long threads like vermicelli. On entering a village it is
quite a common sight to see the women cutting up this bark for
food. They ferment the juice of this birchbark and make a mild
alcoholic drink. They also eat the berries of the shad-bush and the
bark of the sallow, a kind of willow.
These people have acquired a remarkable knowledge of the virtues
of various plants. Some of these tribes are accustomed to dip the
points of their arrows into a decoction of a species of ranunculus,
and wounds so inoculated are incurable unless the poison is
immediately drawn out. Even whales, if wounded with these arrows,
come near the shore and expire in dreadful agony.
Fronyo started out at a good pace while we stayed behind to try and
secure more game before hitting the trail across the mountains. We
secured two more fish, and at four o'clock in the afternoon were on
the road, which we kept till ten o'clock. The next morning, after half
a breakfast, we pushed on up the valley through the foothills of the
range that we had to cross, none of us any too cheerful, but all
determined.
That day I discovered some crumbs of bread in Pak's beard, and
investigation showed that he had been making a square meal of a
41. large portion of our remaining small stock of bread. It may be
pardoned me, under the circumstances, that I drew off and hit him a
good shoulder blow in the left eye, which felled him to the ground.
This proved to be an unfortunate form of punishment, for he was
the Korean who possessed only one good eye, and that was good no
longer. My anger, righteous though it may have been, turned
instantly to solicitude. I blamed myself without measure for my
hasty action, went into camp and founded a hospital on the spot. For
the next twenty-four hours all my energies and resources were
centered on that unhappy eye. I can truly say that I have never hit
anything since without first making sure that the object of my
punishment had a spare eye. Later on my conscience forced me to
give him a silver watch and a new suit of clothes. I rather think the
other Korean envied him that blow when he saw the final result.
To my vast relief the eye healed, and we went on. The third day saw
us over the mountains and crawling across the tundra. We had
thrown away all our bedding and blankets, and each was astride a
horse. On the fourth day we were reduced to wild onions and half-
ripe berries, which induced a violent diarrhea. We came at last to
where sea-gulls were nesting, but they were so shy that we could
not get near them. Konikly had gone on with Fronyo, but we still had
Howka with us, and he was getting fat on the tundra rats. It was to
him, now, that we looked for food. He would make a rush at a sea-
gull, and, as the bird flew from its nest on the tundra, he would
begin to devour the eggs; but we would rush up and drive him off
and secure the loot. The eggs were far gone, and would have been
ready to hatch in another week. We boiled them, and the Koreans
ate the embryonic sea-gulls while I ate the albuminous substance
that still remained. About this time we began to think of sacrificing
one of the horses to the common good, but no one of us was strong
enough to walk, and the horses were therefore spared. The dog we
could not kill, for he was our chief provider.
42. Three Little Half-caste Russians and Native Nurse, Ghijiga,
Okhotsk Sea.
We plodded on until we were about two days' journey from
Chrisoffsky's house, when one morning I descried, far across the
tundra, a line of some fifteen pack-horses and men. We spurred on
gladly to meet the welcome relief.
I found that half a dozen of the officers and men of the steamer
which my employers had sent for me had come to hunt me up.
Never have I seen such a glorious sight as those well-dressed men
and those loaded horses. The captain dismounted, and I tried to
address him in Russian, but he said, "You forget that I speak
English." Now, it may seem scarcely credible, and yet it is true, that
for a few moments I was almost totally unable to converse with him
in my native tongue. I had not used a word of it in conversation for
fourteen months, and my low physical condition acting on my
43. nerves, confused my mind, and I spoke a jumble of English, Russian,
and Korak. It was a week before I could talk good, straight English
again.
We camped right where we had been met, and the packs were
opened up immediately. I sat on a sack filled with potatoes, and
watched them bring out coffee, then some bacon, then some fresh
eggs! Then the captain came with a bottle of champagne and
handed me a glass. This I held in one hand, and with the other I
reached down and extracted a potato, and fell to munching it raw,
sipping the champagne between bites, while I watched them build a
fire and prepare the food. It was a feast that I shall never forget.
After it a box of good cigars was circulated, which added the final
touch to my felicity.
When the inner man had been satisfied, I began to think of how the
outer man might be improved upon. My clothes were in rags, my
weight had fallen from one hundred and sixty pounds to one
hundred and fifteen, my beard was long and unkempt, my boots
were in shreds. The good friends had thoughtfully brought along my
steamer trunk, which now lay in one of the tents. I ordered several
kettles of water heated, and stripping behind the tent, I threw the
noisome rags, with all their denizens, as far into the bush as I could,
and then went in and had a glorious tubbing. I got into a suit of soft
flannels, Scotch tweed knickerbockers and a Norfolk jacket, and after
shaving and grooming myself for an hour, the loathsome larva that
had crawled into camp emerged from that tent a bejeweled butterfly.
That delicious moment was worth almost as much as it cost.
Then we made our way back to Ghijiga, where I distributed presents
among my friends, native and foreign, and boarded the steamer for
Vladivostok. I reached that place twelve days later, and gave account
of my travels and explorations. The search for a Siberian Klondike
had been, so far, a failure. This is not the place for a technical
account of my observations in northern Siberia, but this much I may
say: though there may be gold within the radius that I covered, I
satisfied myself that there were no extensive auriferous deposits on
44. the streams flowing into the Okhotsk Sea near its head, nor in the
beach sands along the shore of Bering Sea, south of the Anadyr
River. But, of course, the whole question was not yet settled, for
there remained the whole stretch of the northeast peninsula, above
the point I had reached, and it turned out that my work was not yet
finished.
45. CHAPTER XVI
A TEN-THOUSAND-MILE RACE
Persistent rumors of gold in the Tchuktche peninsula—Count
Unarliarsky—I am called to Vladivostok to fit out an
expedition—Our vessel arrives off Indian Point—Charging
through the ice-floes—A meeting with Eskimos—Our
prospecting proves fruitless—We meet the rival expedition
in Plover Bay—Their chagrin—The end.
The winter following my explorations in Northeast Siberia I spent in
the United States, during which time the papers contained frequent
reports of rich finds on the Siberian coast, opposite Cape Nome. The
company that had employed me still believed that there was gold to
be found in this region, and were determined to test the matter
thoroughly. The papers stated that the Russian Government had
granted to Count Unarliarsky the mining rights to the whole
Tchuktche peninsula, which is the extreme northeastern portion of
Siberia, between the Anadyr River and the Arctic Ocean. From St.
Petersburg we learned that the Count must present the papers of his
franchise to the Governor at Anadyr before he could legitimately
take possession. Any claims staked out before that time would be
valid, according to Russian law. In order to present his papers before
the Governor, the Count would have to wait till navigation opened up
late in May, for the town of Anadyr lies far up the river of that name,
and is ice-locked till well into the summer.
46. Russian Miners.
I received a cablegram to hurry out to Vladivostok, and make ready
to start at an hour's notice. It was the intention of our company to
charter a steamer for four months, and, with thirty Russian miners,
steam with all speed toward the north, make a hasty examination of
the beaches in question, and even though there might be American
miners there (who would be without Government permission), we
were to stake out claims and then hurry to Anadyr and file our
papers before the Governor should have so much as heard of the
existence of the Count. In all this we were well within the law, and,
as our company had already spent a large sum of money in the
work, it was but right to use every legal means to establish a claim
to at least a portion of the field.
Through our agent at St. Petersburg we were kept informed of the
movements of our rivals. Our agent in San Francisco was instructed
47. to inform me, by cable, as to what steamer the Count chartered, her
speed and equipment. Meanwhile I was busy looking up a vessel,
and after great difficulty, secured the Russian steamer Progress,
Captain Gunderson. I provisioned her for six months, filled her up
with coal enough for five months' steaming, and by June 3
everything was ready. The previous day I had received a cablegram
from San Francisco, stating that the rival expedition, under the
management of Count Bogdanovitch and George D. Roberts, an
American mining engineer, would sail from that port on June 6. Their
speed was ten knots, and they would stop at Nome and one or two
other United States ports. They were in no hurry, and were entirely
in ignorance of our existence. Their boat was the Samoa, a Puget
Sound lumber vessel. We could make eleven knots an hour, and had
a slightly shorter route to follow than they. Furthermore, we knew,
and they did not. We learned that at Plover Bay, on the Russian side,
they were to meet a Russian gun-boat named the Yakut, which
would help to drive away any American miners who might
surreptitiously have opened up claims on the Siberian side. Of these
rumor said that there were some three thousand.
At five o'clock in the afternoon of June 3 we turned our prow
seaward, but, after going a hundred yards, a bolt gave way in the
engine, and we had to lay up for repairs. I chafed at the enforced
delay, but the next morning we were off. Before we had cleared the
entrance of the long, winding bay, we ran into a heavy fog-bank,
and, after feeling our way along for a while, we were obliged to drop
anchor again. When the fog lifted we found that we had passed
within a hundred yards of a rocky promontory, and had escaped only
by good luck. It was not till the next day that we reached the open
sea, and six days later we were riding at anchor in the harbor of
Petropaulovsk. At that point I put off four men to open up a copper
vein that I had located the first time I had passed that way. After
having filled our water-tanks again, we pushed toward the north. In
Bering Sea we found it still cold and foggy, but we kept the vessel up
to her eleven knots, even at the risk of suddenly encountering ice.
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