Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, in the years 1820, 1821, 1822 and 1823: commanded by ... F. von Wrangell [Translated from G. Engelhardt's German version of the original Russian, by Mrs. Sabine.] Edited by E. Sabine

Preface

. The work, of which the present is a translation, was drawn up in the German language by M. Engelhardt, from the journals and papers of M. von Wrangell and the other officers of the expedition, placed in his hands for that purpose ; and was published at Berlin, in July, 1839, under the editorial care of Professor Bitter, with the sanction of M. von Wrangell, who himself communicated the map which accompanied the publication. Notices had been previously given by Professor Parrot regarding some of the physical observations which were made in the course of the expedition, but no general account of its proceedings appeared, until this in 1 839, either in the Bussian or in any other language. The translation has been made by Mrs. Sabine ; it has been reduced into a somewhat smaller compass than the original, partly by the omission of the me teorological tables, and of those containing the details of the astronomical and magnetical observa tions, the results of which appear in the Narrative, — partly by the substitution of a more simple and cona

PREFACE.

. IV cise style than is usual in German writing,— and partly by the occasional curtailment of repetitions, which are not infrequent in different portions of the original work. The German orthography ofthe proper names has been generally preserved ; great part of the names are new, and their pronunciation only known approximately through the medium of a representation by German letters : it did not appear that any adequate advantage would have been gained by an attempt to substitute letters with English values, involving, as it must necessarily have done, some additional degree of uncertainty. The temper atures have been changed from Beaumur into Fah renheit's scale. Distances, weights, and prices, have been preserved in the original expressions, in wersts, poods, and roubles: and the English reader, who may require it, is reminded that the value of a rouble is about 3s. 2|d; that a pood, or 40 Bussian lbs., is 361bs. avoirdupois ; and that a werst is about two thirds of a British statute mile, or more exactly, that 104 wersts make 60 geographical miles.

The dates are in the " old style," which is still in use in Bussia, and twelve days are to be added, to give the corresponding dates in the style adopted by other European nations ; thus, new year's day in this volume is our 13th of January, and so forth. Whether we view M. von Wrangell's narrative as an authentic account of a portion of the globe and of its

PREFACE.

. V inhabitants, hitherto but very imperfectly known ;— or as a personal relation of difficulties encountered and privations borne in a spirit which England cherishes in its own officers, and is not slow to value in others ; — or finally, as an essential portion of the history of arctic discovery, in which our own country has taken so prominent a part; — in each, and in all of these respects, it has a claim on the attention and interest of British readers. The facts and circumstances made known by an expedition which was engaged during three years in geographical researches, extending over fifty degrees of longitude of the coasts of the Polar Sea, must in many instances bear, by a close analogy, on reasonings connected with the yet unexplored portion of the Arctic Circle ; and they do so particularly in respect to that part, which has been, and still continues to be, the theatre of British enterprise.

There is a striking resemblance in the configuration of the northern coasts of the continents of Asia and America, for several hundred miles on either side of Behring Straits ; the general direction of the coast is the same in both continents, the latitude is nearly the same, and each has its attendant group of islands to the north, — the Asiatic continent, those usually known as the New Siberian Islands ; — and the American, those called by Sir Edward Parry the North Georgian Group, and since fitly named,

PREFACE.

. VI from their discoverer, the Parry Islands. The resemblance includes the islands also, both in general character and in latitude. With so decided a similarity in the configuration and position of the land and sea, it is reasonable to expect that there should be a corresponding resem blance in the state and circumstances of the ice, by which the navigation of the Ocean may be affected. In perusing M. von Wrangell's description of that portion of the sea which is comprised between the Asiatic Continent and the New Siberian Islands, those who have had personal experience of the corresponding portion of the sea on the American side, namely, of the portion included between the Continent and the Parry Islands, must at once recognise the close resemblance which the ice described by M. von Wrangell bears to that which fell under their own observation.

In both cases, in summer, a narrow strip of open water exists between the shore and the ice, admitting of the occasional passage of a vessel from point to point, subject to frequent interruptions from the closing of the ice on the land by certain winds, and from difficulties at projecting capes and head-lands. The main body of the ice, by which the sea is covered, is at that season broken into fields and floes of various extent and size, with lanes of open water intermediate ; and in this state things remain till

PREFACE.

. VII the first frosts of autumn, when the whole is cemented into a firm and connected covering, and remains so during the winter. From the circum stance of the Siberian islands being rich in the re mains of mammoths, which form a valuable article of commerce, this natural bridge is traversed every year by many persons, who pass and repass in winter and in spring: — on the American side it is trodden only by the rein-deer and musk-oxen, in their spring and autumn migrations. The thickness of ice formed in a single season is stated by M. von Wrangell to be about nine and a-half feet; if prevented from drifting away during the summer, a second season will add about five feet ; and a third season, doubtless, somewhat more. The fields of ice, which have been met with by the British expeditions in parts of the sea which are known to be cleared in every year, — in Baffin's Bay and Hudson's Straits, for example, and to the north and west of Spitzbergen, — have usually been from nine to ten feet thick; but I well remember the surprise excited in the expedition which pene trated to Melville Island, at the extraordinary and unprecedented thickness of the field-ice which they encountered, after passing Barrow Strait, and enter ing, for the first time, the portion of the sea com prised between the continent and the islands to its north; evidencing that on that portion of the sea the icy covering remains for successive years. The

PREFACE.

. general thickness was more than double that of the formation of a single year. All the attempts to effect the North-West Passage, since Barrow Strait was first passed in 1819, have consisted in an endeavour to force a vessel, by one route or by another, through this land-locked and ice-encumbered portion of the Polar Ocean. No examination has made known what may be the state of the sea to the north of the Parry Islands ;* whether similar impediments may there present themselves to navigation ; or whether a sea may not there exist, offering no difficulties whatsoever of the kind, as M. von Wrangell has shown tobe the case to the north of the Siberian Islands, and as by strict analogy we should be justified in expecting ; unless, indeed, other land should exist to the north of the Parry group, making that portion of the ocean also a land-locked sea.

The equipment of the expeditions of MM. von Wrangell and von Anjou, for the prosecution of their researches, was formed on the presumption of the continuance to the north, (in the winter and spring at least,) of the natural bridge of ice, by which the islands are accessible from the continent : but every attempt which they made to proceed to the north, repeated as these were during three years, and from many different points of a line extending for several * The party, of whicli I was myself one, who walked from the south to the north side of Melville Island, the largest of the group, in May 1820, did not go off the land on the north side.

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. IX hundred miles in an E. and W. direction, terminated alike in conducting them to an open and navigable sea. From whatever point of the coast their departure was taken, the result was invariably the same ; after an ice-journey of more or less continuance, they arrived where further progress in sledges was impossible ; where, to use the words of M. von Wrangell, " we beheld the wide immeasurable ocean spread before our gaze, a fearful and magnificent, but to us a melancholy spectacle." [Das unermessliche, offene meer weit ausgebreitet vor uns: ein furchtbarer, grossartiger, aber trauriger anblick!~\ I need scarcely say, that the spectacle, which to them appeared " melancholy," because it compelled them to renounce the object for which they strove so admirably through years of privation and toil, would wear an aspect of a totally opposite character to those whose success should depend on the facilities of navigation.

Setting aside the possibility of the existence of unknown land, the probability of an open sea ex isting to the north of the Parry Islands, and com municating with Behring Straits, appears to rest on strict analogical reasoning. The distance of either group to Behring Straits is nearly the same. It cannot be doubted, that by calling again into action the energy, and the other admirable qualities which have been fostered and displayed in the Arctic voyages, and by persevering through a sue- X

PREFACE.

. cession of seasons, a vessel might be successfully forced from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through that confined and encumbered portion of the sea, in which all the recent attempts have been made ; and that this would be deemed, and deservedly deemed, an achievement of no ordinary character ; but who, that reflects on the interest which has been excited in this country for two centuries and a-half, by the question of a north-west passage ; — on the heroic per formances of the earlier navigators, in their frail and insufficient vessels ; — and on all the efforts of modern times ; — can forbear to wish that the crowning enter prise of so much exertion and so many hopes, may be more suitable to those expectations of a "free and navigable" passage, which formed the reasonable basis of this long-cherished project.* When, in 1583, Davis sailed through the Strait which has since borne his name, his heart misgave him when he was able to discern, though in the ex treme distance, " land on both sides of him."

" Not withstanding, desirous to know the certainty," he proceeded, and when he found himself in latitude 75°, in " a great sea, free from ice, large, very salt, blue, and of an unsearchable depth," his hopes * It must be borne in mind, that " the north-west passage," and " the determination and survey ofthe north coast of America," are distinct geographical problems ; the latter, in which the name of Franklin stands pre eminent, and which by means of the recent highly praiseworthy exertions of the Hudson's Bay Company, is now nearly completed, is one of the collateral fruits of the interest originally excited by the question of " the north-west passage."

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. XI revived, " and it seemed most manifest that the passage was free, and without impediment." Those who believe that the recent researches are far indeed from disproving the existence of such a passage as Davis sought, will undoubtedly find in M. von Wran gell's narrative a strong support to their opinion, in the probability which it sanctions, of the existence of an open sea in that portion of the passage which has not yet been traversed by ships, namely, between the meridians of Melville Island and Behring Straits. EDWABD SABINE. London, May 25, 1840. Page CONTENTS.

Introduction

. Gradual Discovery of the Siberian Coast — General Review of the Voyages undertaken previously to the Year 1820, in the Polar Ocean, between the Sea of Karskoie and Behring Straits — Inaccuracies ofthe Maps and Surveys — Object of the Expeditions undertaken in 1820 — 1823, on the Polar Ocean and along the Northern Coast of Siberia - xvii

Chapter I

Departure of the Expedition from St. Petersburgh and arrival at Jakuzk ---1

Chapter II

Journey from Jakuzk to Nishne Kolymsk — Pack Horses — First Bivouac— The Jakuti — Jakutian Settlement — Mioro — Jurti, Clothing, Customs, Songs, Food, Villages, National Cha racteristics — The River Aldan — The River Tukulan — Forest Bivouac — Verehow Mountains — Wandering Tungusi — Baralow andTabolog Stations — Saschsiwersk — Inhabitants ofthe District — The River Alaseia — The Sardach Station — Sredne Kolymsk — Winter Travelling Costume — The Omolon River — Dogs and Sledges — Arrival at Nishne Kolymsk ----- 16

Chapter III

General Remarks on the District ofthe Lower Kolyma, and on its Inhabitants ---------44 CONTENTS. Pago 166

Chapter IV

Nishne Kolymsk — Domestic Arrangements — Preparations for Prosecuting the Objects of the Expedition — Well-founded Doubts respecting the Discoveries of Serjeant Andrejew — Arrival of the English Traveller, Captain Cochrane — The New Year — Evening Party — Arrival of the Mate Kosmin — Prepa rations for a Journey with Dogs and Sledges — Necessary De viation from the Original Plan — Tidings of the Arrival of the Tschuktschi on the Lesser Aniuj — Departure of M. von Matiuschkin for Ostrownoje -------80

Chapter V

First Ice Journey over the Sea — Departure from Nishne Kolymsk — Sucharnoje Island — Baranow Rocks— Flat low Coast— Great Baranow River— Cold — First traces of the Tschuktschi — Meteor — Cape Schelagskoi — Kosmin Rock— Wollok — Cape Matiuschkin — Arautan Island — Loss of Provisions — Return to Nishne Kolymsk ------ 93

Chapter VI

M. von Matiuschkin's Account of the Fair at Ostrownoje— Remarks on the Tschuktschi whom he met there, and on the Schamans - - - - - . . . . -114

Chapter VII

Second Ice Journey — Preparations — Plan — Departure- Bear Hunt — First Encampment on the Ice of the Polar Sea- Four Pillar Island— Ice broken up and covered with Sea- Water — Hummocks — Deposit of Provisions — State of the Ice Easter— White Bears— The Bear Islands— Return to Nishne Kolymsk ------ j ... . J29

Chapter VIII

Nishne Kolymsk — Spring — Scarcity— Fisheries for the supply ofthe Expedition— Building a Shallop— Plans for the Summer— Warm Weather— Musquitoes — Embark in the new boat— Accident to M. von Matiuschkin— Rein-Deer Hunting in the Tundra — Arrival at Tschukotschie— Departure of M. Kosmin to survey the Coast as far as the Indigirka— Return up the Kolyma— Tent burnt— Arrival at Nishne Kolymsk— Visit to the Jakuti of Sredne Kolymsk— Their Summer Life and Ha bitations—Traditions—Albuty—Early Snow— Return to Nishne Kolymsk— Arrival of MM.Matiuschkin.Kyber and Kosmin - CONTENTS. XV Page

Chapter IX

M. von Matiuschkin's Account of a Journey along the Lesser and the Greater Aniuj Rivers. § 1* The Lesser Aniuj— Departure from Nishne Kolymsk — Mammoth Bones — Arrival at Plotbischtsche — Aboriginal Population of this District— Present Inhabitauts— Causes ofthe Scantiness of the Population — Jukahiri — Migration of the Rein-deer in Spring and Summer— Departure from Plotbischtsche — Argu nowo — Poginden — The Rock Obrom— Return to Plotbischtsche — General Remarks on the Lesser Aniuj - - 183 § 2. The Greater Aniuj — Journey continued on Horseback — The Mountain-Chain of the Greater Aniuj — The Kameschkowa — Fur-Hunting — Traps — Tigischka — Arrival at Sladnoje and Lobasnoje — The Emperor's Name-day — Failure of the Rein deer Hunt — Famine — Return by Water — Inhabitants of the Banks of the Greater Aniuj — Tungusi, Lamuti, Tschuwanzi, and Jakuti — Their modes of Life, and Numbers — Schamanism and Schamans — Dolgoje — Arrival at Bol'schaja Brussanka — Freezing of the River — Continuation of the Journey in Sledges Drawn by Dogs — Baskowo — Arrival at Nishne Kolymsk — Remarks on the Different Tribes whom we visited during this Journey - - - - 196

Chapter X

Survey of the Coast of the Polar Sea from the Lesser Tschukotschie River to the mouth of the Indigirka, by the Mate Kosmin, in 1821 - - - - - - - - - 211

Chapter XI

Third Journey on the Ice of the Polar Sea — Preparations — Mortality among the Dogs — Departure from Nishne Kolymsk — Journey towards the North — Waves of Drifted Snow — En counters with White Bears — Deposit of Provisions — Difficul ties — Accident — High Hummocks — Second Deposit of Provi sions — The Expedition Divided — False Appearances of Land — Return to the Deposits of Provisions — The Expedition Re united—Proceed Northward again— Easter — Breaking up of the Ice — Hummocks — Turn to the Eastward — State of the Ice — Cape Schelagskoi — Arrival at the First Deposit of Pro visions — Return to the Coast — Pochodsk — Famine — Arrival at Nishne Kolymsk — Inundation contents. Page 270 339

Appendix

. On the Ice of the Polar Sea — The Polynja or open water Currents — Gain of the Land on the Sea — The Aurora Borealis ■On the best kind of Sledges, and on the treatment ofthe Dogs Remarks on the Winds — Table of Geographical Positions -

INTRODUCTION.

. Gradual Discovery of the Siberian Coast. — General Review of the Voyages undertaken previously to the Year 1820, in the Polar Ocean, between the Sea of Karskoie and Behring Straits. — Inaccuracies of the Maps and Surveys. — Object ofthe Expeditions undertaken in 1820 — 1823, on the Polar Ocean and along the Northern Coast of Siberia. The whole of the immense extent of country from the White Sea to Behring Straits, embracing 145 degrees of longitude along the coast of Asia and Europe, has been discovered, surveyed, and described by Bussians. All the attempts of other maritime nations to find a passage by the Polar Sea from Europe to China, or from the Pacific into the Atlan tic, have been limited, in the West by the Karskoie Sea, and in the East by the meridian of the Cape North. The impediments which stopt the progress of others, have been conquered by Bussians, accustomed to the severity of the climate, and to the pri vations inseparable from it. The first voyages to these icy deserts were under taken by private individuals, attracted by the hope b

INTRODUCTION.

. of large profits from a trade in the costly furs of the animals with which those regions abound. At a later period, armed expeditions were sent out by the government, sometimes by land, and sometimes by sea, in large flat boats,* which creeping along the coast, reduced the tribes residing there, one after another, to Bussian subjection. At a still later period scientific expeditions were sent out by the Government at a considerable expense, the sole object of which was to make an accarate survey of the countries already visited, and to discover others. Many of the voyages to the coasts and islands of the Polar Oceanhave hitherto remained entirely unknown to the public ; as, however, in describing my own expedition, I shall have frequent occasion to speak of the labours of those who preceded me, a brief review of them may be regarded as a suitable and indeed necessary introduction.

The coast of the Polar Ocean was partially known to Bussian navigators as early as the middle of the 16th century. They were accustomed to sail in small flat vessels, or ladji, from the White Sea and from the mouth of the Petchora, across the Sea of Karskoie, as far as the entrances of the Obi and Jenisei. Sometimes they performed the whole voyage by sea ; in general, however, to lessen the distance, they were in the habit of drawing their boats across the isthmus which divides the Gulph of Obi from the Karskoie Sea. In the latter case, their route was as follows : they sailed from the * Kotschy, broad, flat, decked-boats, of about twelve fathoms in length. They are usually impelled by oars, but, when the wind is favourable, make use of sails also.

INTRODUCTION.

. XIX Karskoie Sea up the river Mutnaia, and, after a navigation of eight days, reached two lakes of about ten or twelve miles in circuit. There they unloaded their cargoes, and drew their boats over a neck of land 200 fathoms in breadth, to Lake Selenoi, whence by the river of the same name, they descended to the Gulph of Obi. The return by sea from the Obi to Archangel occupied generally three or four weeks; the distance from the Obi to the Jenisei, however, was generally performed in two or three weeks* We find it stated in Fischer's " History ofSiberia;, and also in Midler's " Nachrichten von Seereisen," that in the year 1598, Fedor Dyakow was sent from Tobolsk to demand yassak or tribute from the Samoyedes of the Jenisei ; and we are told by the same authority, that in 1600, under the government of Godunow, in order to secure the Bussian ascendancy, a town named Mangaseja was built on the river Jasa, in the country of the Samoyedes.

This town was afterwards removed to the river Turuchanka, where, in 1607, the Cossacks, incessantly occupied with the reduction of the Samoyedes, Ostiaks, and Tungusi, had established a wintering station to which they had given the name of Turuchansk. From this station the Cossacks descended the river Jenisei, the mouth of which they reached in 1610. The detailed reports of their discovery led to a new expedition. In the same year there was formed at Mangaseja, acompany composed of merchants undpromischlenn iki or fur-hunters, having a two-fold object in view : viz, * Voyage of Captain Liitke, Vol. I, page 7G b

INTRODUCTION.

. XX discovery and trade. The members of this associa tion repaired to the new Cossack settlement of Turuchansk, built a few kotschy with which they descended the Jenisei, and after a navigation of four weeks reached the Polar Ocean, or Studenoye Moje, (Cold Sea) as they denominated it. The masses of ice which they encountered obliged them to remain at anchor for five weeks, till a violent gale from the South broke up the ice and enabled them to put to sea. These people assure us that they met with ice more than thirty fathoms thick. Of this expedition nothing further is known than that it reached the mouth of the Passida river.* By following the course of the Tunguska and that of the Vymoi, both which rise in the same chain of mountains, the former falling into the Jenisei, and the latter into the Lena, the Cossacks of the Jenisei were led in 1630 to the important discovery of the Lena, by means of which they were enabled greatly to extend the subjection of the native inhabitants of Siberia.

Among others the Cossack Jelissei Busa, was sent from Jeneseisk to the Lena, in 1636, with orders to examine all the rivers that fall into the Polar Ocean, and to impose a yassack upon all the tribes dwelling among them. Busa set out, accompanied by only ten Cossacks, and wintered at the little fortress of Olekminsk, where he added forty fur-hunters to his party, and continued his expedition in the spring. In a fortnight he arrived at the » The whole country about the Lower Jenisei is said formerly to have borne the name of Passida, which in the Samoyed dialect means a flat plain without wood. The greater part of Northern Siberia, along the Polar Sea, consists of such naked plains, which in the language of the country arc called Tundra.

INTRODUCTION.

. XXI western mouth of the Lena ; and, after a navigation of twenty-four hours on the Polar Ocean, reached the entrance of the Olekma, which he ascended, and passed the winter among the Tungusi, on whom he imposed a yassak. In the spring of 1638, Busa and his party returned to the Lena, which he reached at the point where it receives the Moloda, and built two small vessels, in which he descended the Lena, and in ten days reached the ocean. Five days after wards, he discovered the mouth of the Jana ; and, after ascending the river for three days, fell in with some tribes of Jakuti, on whom, as usual, he levied a considerable yassak. On the Jana, Busa built four new vessels, with which, on the return of spring, he descended the river ; and by one of its arms, running eastward, entered the Biver Tshendoma, where he found a settlement of Jukahiri, living in half subterranean huts, with whom he remained two years, examining the country, and levying a large yassak on this and several neighbouring tribes.

About the same time that Busa entered the Jana, the Indigirka was discovered by Ivanow, surnamed Postnik or Observer of Fasts. He subdued the Jukahiri scattered along the banks, and established a wintering station, where he left a garrison of sixteen Cossacks, who, after the departure of their chief, built a couple of boats, with which they examined the course of the river to its mouth, and received tribute from the inhabitants. They even ventured a considerable distance out to sea, and seem to have obtained some knowledge of the mouth of the Alasei.

INTRODUCTION.

. XXII We have no positive knowledge of the period at which the Kolyma was discovered. Fischer, in his History of Siberia, mentions it for the first time in 1644, in which year the Cossack, Michael Sta duchin, formed a winter-establishment at about 100 wersts from its mouth, from which, afterwards arose the little town of Nishne Kolymsk. From Sta duchin we have the earliest accounts of the warlike nation of the Tschuktschi, and of a large island situated farther to the North in the Polar Ocean. He had been assured that an island was visible from the coast, somewhere between the mouths of the Jana and Kolyma ; and that the Tschuktschi were in the habit of going over in one day in their rein deer sledges, and returning with valuable loads of walrus teeth. The fur-hunters scattered about the country confirmed this report, maintaining, however, that the supposed island was only a continuation of Novaia Zemblia.

Staduchin also heard much of a large river by the name of Pogytsha or Kowytsha, which he was told fell into the ocean about three days' sail further to the East. The greater part of this information was subsequently found to be incorrect. The large island can have been no other than the small one bearing on our maps the name of Krestowoi, and which belongs to the group of the Bear Islands. Though of small extent, it can be seen from the coast in clear weather, and it is also true that the tribes on the Tschukotsch Biver can go across the ice to it in one day in their rein-deer sledges. It is also possible that the natives may even then have had some indistinct knowledge of the islands lying opposite to the mouth of the

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIII Jana ; and that this may have led to some confusion in their description of the Bear Islands. The first attempt to navigate the Polar Ocean to the east of the Kolyma, was made in the year 1646, by a company of fur-hunters under the guidance of Issai Ignatiew. The sea was covered with thick drift-ice ; nevertheless, the navigators found a narrow passage, through which they advanced with little impediment for two days, when they ran into a bay surrounded by rocks, and obtained by barter some walrus' teeth from the Tschuktschi dwelling there. Their ignorance of the language of the natives, and the warlike disposition of the latter, made it appear prudent not to venture farther ; and Ignatiew returned to the Kolyma. From his imper fect report it is difficult to judge how far his voyage extended; from the time employed, however, it is probable that he reached Tschaun Bay, in which, opposite the Island of Arautan, there is such an inlet as he describes, surrounded by steep rocks.

Ignatiew's account of a nation rich in walrus teeth, and not yet subdued, was sufficient to stimu late the restless conquerors of Siberia to a new undertaking, which did not appear to present any greater difficulty than those they had already over come. They resolved on an expedition into the country of the Tschuktschi, from which they pro mised themselves, not without reason, important advantages and large profits. A company of fur hunters was accordingly formed under the guidance of Fedot Kolmogorzow, a man in the service of a Moscow merchant; and the necessary preparations for the expedition proceeded with the greatest acti-

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIV vity and zeal. At Kolmogorzow's request, a government functionary was attached to the expedition, for the purpose "of attending to the interests of the crown;" this person was the Cossack Semen Desh new, who afterwards distinguished himself by making the voyage round the north-eastern extremity of Asia. In June 1647 the expedition sailed in four vessels from the Kolyma, designing to reach the Biver Ana dyr, which, it was supposed, fell into the Polar Ocean. The immense fields and hummocks of ice, however, which the navigators encountered, obliged them, after many vain efforts, to return to Nishne Kolymsk. Staduchin's report of the river Pogytsha, and of a large island in the Polar Ocean, had, in the mean time, induced the authorities at Jakuzk to send him back to Nishne Kolymsk, with orders to proceed in search of the supposed river, and to reduce the tribes residing there under Bussian subjection.