ing the same on the
following summer, together with the regular annual payment of ten per
cent. It is evident that an institution once thoroughly established
upon such a basis, and managed upon such principles, could never fail,
but would constantly increase its capital of dried fish until the
settlement would be perfectly secure against even the possibility
of famine. At Kolyma, a Russian post on the Arctic Ocean, where the
experiment was first tried, it proved a complete success. The bank
sustained the inhabitants of the village through severe famines during
two consecutive winters, and its capital in 1867 amounted to 300,000
dried fish, and was accumulating at the rate of 20,000 a year.
Anadyrsk, not being a Russian military post, had no bank of this kind;
but had our work been continued another year, we intended to petition
the Government for the organisation of such institutions at all the
settlements, Russian and native, along the whole route of our line.

In the meantime, however, the famine was irremediable, and on December
1, 1867, poor Bush found himself in a deserted settlement 600 versts
from Gizhiga without money, without provisions, and without means of
transportation--but with a helpless party of forty-four men, at the
mouth of the Anadyr River, dependent upon him for support. Building a
telegraph line under such circumstances was out of the question. All
that he could hope to do would be to keep his parties supplied with
provisions until the arrival of horses and men from Yakutsk should
enable him to resume work.

On November 29th, finding that I could be of no further assistance at
Anadyrsk, and that I was only helping to eat up more rapidly Bush's
scanty supply of provisions, I started with two Penzhina sledges for
Gizhiga. As I did not again visit the Northern District, and shall
have no further occasion to refer to it, I will relate briefly here
the little which I afterward learned by letter with regard to the
misfortunes and unhappy experiences of the Company's employes in that
region. The sledges that I had ordered from Gizhiga reached Penzhina
late in December, with about 3000 pounds of beans, rice, hard-bread,
and assorted stores. As soon as possible after their arrival Bush sent
half a dozen sledges and a small quantity of provisions to the party
at the mouth of the Anadyr River and in February they returned,
bringing six men. Determined to accomplish something, however
little, Bush sent these