and biscuit, of which but a very small supply was left;
but it refreshed and strengthened them, so that one of the party, whose
dogs were strongest, was enabled to go on more rapidly to Igiga, to beg
from the commandant assistance and food for the rest of the party. When
the poor creatures who were left perceived the dogs coming to assist
them, nothing could exceed their joy. They sprang into the air, barked
aloud, and set forward with such eagerness to meet them, that restraint
was impossible. When they came up, they jumped and fawned upon them, and
licked them with an expression of pleasure and satisfaction which it was
impossible to mistake. As they approached the town, it was utterly in
vain to hold them back, they set off at full speed, and if it had not
been for the assistance of several of the inhabitants, who ran and
caught hold of them, the sledges would have been upset, and every thing
broken to pieces.

Leaving Igiga, Mr. Dobell continued his journey by Yamsk and Towisk,
through the country of the Tongusees. He found these people active,
persevering, and obliging; those whom he employed performing every sort
of service with cheerfulness. They are men of small stature, slightly
made, and resembling the northern Chinese in features. Their
countenances generally were indicative of a tractable mild disposition,
and bore a strong Asiatic cast of character, which is indeed found
amongst all the natives throughout Siberia. Their fidelity, however, was
not on an equality with their other good characteristics, as our
travellers had soon an opportunity of learning, by an event which placed
their lives in most imminent peril. The provisions laid in at Towisk
were nearly consumed, and the time at which they should have reached the
next town had arrived, when the native guides confessed that they had
mistaken the road, and there was every prospect of the whole party
perishing in the desert. What were the feelings of Mr. Dobell, when
awaking one morning, in this situation, he found that the Tongusees were
no longer with him; the rascals had gone off in the night, not leaving a
single deer for food, and deserting a party of five in number, all
strangers, on one of the highest mountains of Siberia, in a wild and
uninhabited country! In this emergency Mr. Dobell displayed great
firmness, resolution, and all the energy and resources of an experienced
traveller; indeed the portion of his volumes which contains the account
of hi