arer approach
generally showed that a man could stand on the beach and,
metaphorically, shake hands with one on their summits. With plenty of
decent food this part of the journey would have been comparatively
enjoyable, but as we had only enough seal-meat to last for ten days, and
as I feared that the Erktrik natives, wishing to be rid of us, had
misinformed me as to the distance away of the next village, I could only
issue provisions very sparingly. Luckily my fears were unfounded, for in
a week we reached the second settlement, Owarkin, which was more
prosperous, and where a goodly supply of food was produced in exchange
for half a dozen dogs, some tea and a few articles of barter. The
natives here were less unfriendly, but as most of them had never seen a
white man we were regarded with great curiosity. All day the tent was
packed with eager faces, and at night-time the canvas opening was
continually pushed aside, much to our discomfort, for the cold here was
very severe. But these people were such a welcome contrast to the
sulky, ill-conditioned natives down coast that we gladly suffered this
minor discomfort. We remained in this place for one night only, and
pushed on with renewed hope, encouraged by the kindly demeanour of the
natives, for Cape North. But now the fair weather broke up, and almost
daily we had to fight against gales and blizzards, which weakness,
caused by filthy diet, almost rendered us incapable of. But we pegged
away cheerfully enough, although every one was suffering more or less
from troublesome catarrh; De Clinchamp was partially crippled by
frost-bite, and snow-blindness caused me incessant pain--agony on sunny
days when there was a glare off the ice. To make matters worse,
drift-wood was so scarce at this time that a small fire was only
attainable every second day. Luckily I had kept a few wax candles, and
with the aid of these enough snow was melted to serve as a lotion for De
Clinchamp and myself. I was harassed, too, by the thought that at our
slow rate of speed Koliutchin Bay (still eight hundred miles away) would
probably be found broken up and impassable, in which case the entire
summer would have to be passed amongst these treacherous natives. For
should the Revenue cutter, which the American Government had kindly
undertaken to send to our assistance in June, not find us at East Cape,
she would probably sail away again, under the impression that we had
returned to the Kolyma. In any c