ne of them, the _Onward_, had not come at all;
but the _Palmetto_ had brought twelve or fourteen more men and a full
supply of tools and provisions, Major Abaza had gone to Yakutsk to
hire six or eight hundred native labourers and purchase three hundred
horses, and we hoped that the first of February would find the work
progressing rapidly along the whole extent of the line.

As soon as possible after the departure of the _Palmetto_, I sent
Lieutenant Sandford and the twelve men whom she had brought into the
woods on the Gizhiga River above the settlement, supplied them with
axes, snow-shoes, dog-sledges, and provisions, and set them at work
cutting poles and building houses, to be distributed across the
steppes between Gizhiga and Penzhinsk Gulf. I also sent a small party
of natives under Mr. Wheeler to Yamsk, with five or six sledge-loads
of axes and provisions for Lieutenant Arnold, and despatches to be
forwarded to Major Abaza. For the present, nothing more could be done
on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, and I prepared to start once more
for the north. We had heard nothing whatever from Lieutenant Bush
and party since the first of the previous May, and we were of course
anxious to know what success he had met with in cutting and rafting
poles down the Anadyr River, and what were his prospects and plans for
the winter. The late arrival of the _Palmetto_ at Gizhiga had led us
to fear that the vessel destined for the Anadyr might also have
been detained and have placed Lieutenant Bush and party in a very
unpleasant if not dangerous situation. Major Abaza had directed me,
therefore, when he sailed for Okhotsk, to go by the first winter road
to Anadyrsk and ascertain whether the Company's vessels had been at
the mouth of the river, and whether Bush needed any assistance. As
there was no longer anything to detain me at Gizhiga, I packed up my
camp-equipage and extra fur clothes, loaded five sledges with tea,
sugar, tobacco, and provisions, and on November 2d started with six
Cossacks for my last journey to the Arctic Circle.

In all my Siberian experience I can recall no expedition which was so
lonely and dismal as this. For the sake of saving transportation, I
had decided not to take any of my American comrades with me; but by
many a silent camp-fire did I regret my self-denying economy, and
long for the hearty laugh and good-humoured raillery of my "fidus
Achates"--Dodd. During twenty-five days I did not meet a civilise