Chapter XII: Siberia and Kamchatka 275 (11)

We now floated on a fine, deep, and wide river, and, though extremely
crooked, beautiful beyond conception, winding down amongst romantic
mountains and through large bodies of rich lowlands, interspersed
with lakes, rivulets, and meadows covered with fine grass. It
appeared a matter of surprise to me that so fine a stream, apparently
possessing abundance of game and fish, should be entirely destitute
of neighboring inhabitants. We saw numbers of fish constantly playing
about us, and contrived a hook with a small nail, but had not the
good fortune to catch any of them. The current seemed to increase
as we descended, and we set off before four on the 13th to take
advantage of it. About ten o’clock I discovered a jourta not far
from the edge of the left bank, and casting off the canoe despatched
the Cossack and Karaikee to examine it. They soon returned,
informing me it was a winter jourta of the Tongusees, but was then
quite deserted, and that there was not the smallest appearance of
inhabitants anywhere near. The day was hot and calm, and our visit
to the shore brought off to us a swarm of mosquitoes that pestered
us continually,--an annoyance we had not experienced for some days
previously in consequence of the wind and rain. My companions often
complained of not having meat enough, and seemed displeased at my
dealing it out sparingly. This was, however, absolutely necessary by
reason of the difficulty of killing game, for we perceived that as we
descended the river became wider, and the water-fowl scarcer and more
difficult of approach; besides which it was quite uncertain whether
we should meet inhabitants at the sea-coast, and perhaps, when there,
we might again find game scarce and difficult to shoot. On the 14th
the current increased in rapidity to such a degree that it cost us
considerable pain and labor to guide our raft in safety, and we felt
grateful to Heaven for having fallen with the canoe, without which
we could never have descended this part of the river on so frail a
vehicle.

We ran aground three or four times, and twice got entangled in the
trees that hung over the stream, but fortunately escaped without
accident. Perceiving a very dangerous place just below us, and
being too near the shore to prevent the raft’s being drawn into
the whirlpool, we pulled in and landed on the bank immediately
opposite to us. We then dragged the raft up for about a hundred
yards, assisted by the counter current that generally prevails near
the edge of a stream. By this precaution we got nigh enough to
be able to make an offing sufficient to prevent being thrown upon
another dangerous place we had seen below, composed of fallen trees,
roots, etc., thrown up like an island, over which the water foamed
in a cataract. Not long after we had landed I observed the Karaikee
examining with great attention the spot where we were and the
surrounding mountains, and at length he began to pray and to cross
himself with great fervency, the tears running down his cheeks in a
stream. I approached him to inquire the cause of his emotion, when
he exclaimed: “That is our mountain; our village is not far off, for
on this spot I caught some hares last winter. I know that we are now
not far from Grebay, a small Yakut village on the sea-coast, at the
mouth of the river, which is called Cowvah, and only twenty versts
from Towinsk. But a short distance below this is the branch on which
Towinsk stands, emptying itself into the bay, about ten versts higher
up, and if it had been earlier in the season we might have descended
it with a raft, but I perceive the water is now too low to attempt
it.”

It will be easier for my readers to imagine than for me to express
the joy we all experienced at this cheering news. We boiled our
kettle and made all the meat we had into soup, determined to have a
feast after such a long term of short allowance. This, however, was
only a comparative feast, as our whole stock amounted to a third of
a swan and a teal. Our repast finished we pushed off our raft with
great spirits, paddling with all our strength to obtain the midway
channel and avoid the dangers which, like Scylla and Charybdis,
threatened us on either hand. The current ran at the rate of eight
or nine knots an hour in turbulent eddies that twisted us round and
round, in spite of our best exertions. We had, however, the good
fortune to escape unhurt, but afterwards ran aground several times,
and with great difficulty got the raft off (by all jumping into the
water) and that not without injuring it materially. Between two and
three o’clock in the afternoon we found ourselves in a fine wide
channel, with a moderate current, and on the beach, not far below us,
descried a man and two boys mending a canoe. The effect the sight
of human beings had upon us is not to be described. Every soul shed
tears of joy, and when these people approached with their canoe to
assist us it was impossible to resist the impulse, or to answer their
questions. Our tears flowed in streams, and we were all so unmanned
we could only reply to them by signs. The elder person proved to be a
Yakut, whom I had known when I passed before. This good Yakut, when
he recognized me, jumped upon the raft, clasped me in his arms, and
shed tears in abundance, exclaiming, “Thank God! Thank God! you are
all saved.” He informed me that the Tongusees having confessed their
leaving us on the mountain, the old chief, living near to Towinsk,
had despatched his son, with twenty-five head of reindeer, in search
of us, and that every one there had given us up for lost, knowing
how difficult it was to procure food on those deserted plains and
mountains in the spring of the year.

On inquiry we found that had we taken any other route than the one we
came we must inevitably have perished!

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1881.]

“Dear Uncle Fritz,” said Alice, shivering, “did anything as bad as that ever happen to you?”

“Not for so many days,” said he, patting her shoulder as they walked into supper. “But I have eaten smoked salmon cold with more appetite than I now have for Ellen’s hot muffins.”

When they were seated at the table, and the decomposition of the muffins had begun, Bob Edmeston followed up what Alice had said.

“You see, Alice,” said he, “that the excitement of discovery carries men on. For me, I mourn that nothing is left unknown for the explorers of this age.”

They all laughed at his melancholy, and Philip asked him what was the source of Mink Brook, and Laura if he would tell her where the water of the Shannock factories emptied into the sea.

“I will not be bullied,” said Bob. “I do not know these things because my education has been neglected. But, alas! some one knows them. They are on the map of Rhode Island. What I thirst for is the unknown, yet not unknowable. Alas! the discoverers have wrested this from me.”

“Not at all,” said Uncle Fritz. “You have only to ask at the Public Library for the Journal of the Geographical Society, or the Bulletin de la Geographie, and you will see that there is as good discovery as ever going on to-day.”

“One comes to love these explorers,” said Bertha. “Here I never heard of your Mr. Dobell’s wife nor children nor home; but I have been crying, without knowing it, because he was so hungry.”

Fergus said, rather seriously, that we always sympathized with men who gave themselves for an idea. It might be obedience to an Emperor, it might be the source of a river,--we were always glad to follow a man in proportion as he was unselfish.

Bob Edmeston, without going into the philosophy of the thing, said there were lots of interesting books on the shelf the Dobell volumes came from.

So there are, and so it happens that the next volume of this series will be

STORIES OF DISCOVERY TOLD BY DISCOVERERS.

INDEX.

Abbott, Jacob, 10.

Acre, 50;
Siege of, 71, 81;
assault on the town, 83;
arrival of Richard I., 89;
surrender of Acre, 97;
heroic incidents of siege, 87, 88, 93, 94.

Adams, John Quincy, 256;
memoirs of, 256.

Adventures, Captain Bonneville’s, 256.

Albany, 156.

Aleppo, 66.

Algonquins, the, 143, 157, 158, 159, 160.

Alpine Club, 8, 9.

Apaches, the, 158.

“Arabian Nights,” 31;
Lane’s translation of, 31, 32.

Astoria, 256.

Athapescans, the, 158.

Aurora Borealis, 170.

Balbeck, 66.

Bancroft’s History of the United States, 157.

Beaver, the, 170-178;
habitat of, 170, 171;
dams of, described, 172;
beaver-houses, 173, 174;
absurd stories concerning, 175;
hunting the beaver, 177, 178.

Bertrandon de la Brocquière, 45;
joins the Crusaders, 46;
their route, 46;
travelling in the desert, 47;
reaches Gaza, 48;
pilgrimage to Nazareth, 49;
the town of Acre, 50;
gardens of Jaffa, 51;
in Damascus, 52;
Baruth, 53;
Mount Tabor, 55;
description of a caravan, 58;
the shrine of Mohammed, 59;
Damascus blades, 61;
Turkish customs, 65, 66, 67, 68.

Bethlehem, 34.

Blue Hills, the, 8, 9.

Bohn’s Library, 33, 45, 71.

Bryant’s History of the United States, 127.

Buffalo-hunt, a, 273, 274.

Cabots, the, 102, 135.

California, origin of the name, 102.

Canary Islands, the, 188-193.

Caravan, description of, 58.

Casa Grande, 135.

“Cat,” a, 93.

Cathay, the Chan of, 37-43.

Cevola, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136.

Charles V., Emperor of Germany, 103.

Chateaubriand, François, Vicomte de, 255.

Clements, Alberic, death of, 93, 94.

Cleveland, Captain, early history of, 221, 222;
buys a packet-boat in Havre, and starts out to see the world, 221;
his first crew, 221;
some novel experimenting with the compass, 224, 225;
a Prussian grenadier, 225, 226;
a group worthy of Hogarth, 226;
adventure with an English frigate, 227;
encounter with a privateer, 228, 229;
arrives at Cape of Good Hope, 231;
is suspected of being a spy, 232;
further difficulties encountered, 233-236;
sells vessel and cargo, 236, 238;
a voyage in South American waters, 238;
arrives at Valparaiso, 238;
difficulty with the Spanish Governor, 239, 240;
arrested, 243;
further hostilities, 244-246;
boarding the Hazard, 246, 247;
calls on the Governor, 248-250;
final leave-taking, 251, 252;
Captain Cleveland at sixty-seven concerning himself, 237, 255.

Cleveland’s Travels, 220, 221;
opinion of his book, 237;
extracts from, 221-237, 238-252.

Columbia River, discovery of, 255.

Columbus, Christopher, 37, 101, 102.

Conversation, Uncle Fritz’s rules for, 9.

Coronado, Vasquez de, expedition of, 128, 129, 135;
discovery of the Gila River; Casa Grande, 135;
Civola, 136, 137;
description of the country, and its people, 136-139.

Cortes, Hernando, 101, 102, 103;
extracts from letters of, 103-125;
attack on colony of, at Vera Cruz, 104;
uprising in city of Mexico, 104, 105, 106;
Montezuma, attempting to pacify the Indians, is wounded to death, 106;
Cortes retreats to Tacuba, 115;
is defeated at Tacuba and Indian allies are slain, 116, 117;
again retreats, 117, 118;
Cortes as an explorer, 118-125.

Cow-tree, the, 204.

Crusaders, the, 45-68;
the Third Crusade, 71-100.

Cyprus, taking of, 90.

Dakotas, the, 263-269.

Damascus, 51, 52;
blades of, 61.

Dana, Richard Henry, 237.

Defoe, Daniel, 185.

Dobell, Peter, travels of, 277-308.

Electrical eels, method of fishing for, 208, 209.

Eliot, John, Apostle to the Indians, 158.

Ephrata, _see_ Bethlehem.

Fra Marco, 127;
a prince of liars, 129;
his remarkable account of the country he explored, 129-135;
Coronado’s opinion of Fra Marco, 136.

Frederic Barbarossa, 73, 74, 77, 78;
tragic death of, 79, 80.

Fulton, Robert, 256.

Gay’s History, _see_ Bryant’s History of the United States.

Gila River, 135.

Goeffrey of Vinsauf, 69, 71.

Goupil, René, 144, 145, 146, 147.

Greek fire, 85.

Guy, King of Jerusalem, 80.

Hakluyt, quoted, 129.

Hazard, the, 239;
seizure of 246, 247.

Hearne’s Travels, 159, 160;
extract from, 160-183.

Henry II. of England, 72, 89.

Hudson’s Bay Company, 184.

Humboldt, Alexander, early history of, 184, 185;
Travels of, 185;
visits Washington, 185;
extract from his own account of his travels, 187;
his fondness for the sea, 187;
love of Nature, 188;
plans to study the Western Continent, 188;
arrives at the Canaries, 188;
the volcanoes of Teneriffe, 189-192;
Orotava, 192;
flocks of canaries, 192, 193;
the Southern Cross, 193, 194;
Manzanares, the, 194;
bathing in, 195;
pearl-oysters of the South American coast, 195;
South American scenery, impressive character of, 197;
Caripe, convent of, 199;
preaching to the Indians, 199;
Cumana, 200, 201;
encounter with an Indian, 201, 202;
aromatic shrubs, 203;
the cow-tree, 204;
howling monkeys, 205, 206;
a search for drinking-water, 206, 207;
electrical eels, 208;
crocodiles, 209;
jaguars, 210, 211;
a primitive South American grandee, 211-213;
a midnight concert in the forest, 214;
the Land Beyond the Great Cataracts, 216-217;
interlocked rivers, 218-219.

Hurons, the, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 149, 150.

Indians, division into families, 157, 158, 159;
dialects of, compared, 158, 159;
Indians of the North, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 181,
182, 183;
an Indian Robinson Crusoe, 178, 179, 180.

Iroquois, the, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 152, 153,
154, 157.

Irving, Washington, 256.

Itinerary of Richard I., 71;
extract from, 71-100.

Jaguar, the, 210, 211.

Jefferson, Thomas, 185, 252, 254.

Jesuits, Society of, 141, 142.

Jogues, Father Isaac, 142;
sent as missionary to New France, 142;
travels to Quebec, 143;
homeward journey, 143;
is attacked by hostile Iroquois, and captured, 143, 144;
capture of René Goupil, 145;
suffers the most cruel tortures, 145, 146, 147;
captivity, 148, 149, 150;
his escape is planned, 151;
escapes, and is concealed on a ship bound for France, 152, 153;
voluntarily gives himself up, 154;
release from captivity, 154;
Dutch Governor makes terms with the Iroquois, 154;
Massacre at Schenectady, 155, 156.

Kamtchadales, the, 282, 283.

Kamchatka, Dobell’s travels in, 277;
the Kamtchadales, 282, 283;
Prince Zachar, 283;
the reindeer, 284;
sleeping in the snow, 285;
sleighing in May, 287;
among the mountains, 290;
lost in a wilderness, 294-308.

Kublai Khan, 15, 19-26.

Lady Oliver House, 7.

Lewis and Clarke, expedition of, 255, 258.

Loadstone, 35, 36.

Long, Major S. H., 257;
commands government-expedition to the Northwest, 258;
route ordered, 258;
object of journey, 259;
relics of the mound-builders, 259-263;
meets with Dakota Indians, 263-265;
Indian banquets, 266, 267;
speech of the Chief, 268, 269;
encounter with hostiles, 269-273;
a buffalo-hunt, 273, 274.

Mandeville, Sir John, 10, 31;
travels of, 31;
sources of his tales, 32;
selections from, 34-43;
why Sir John did not tell about Paradise, 43, 44.

Manhattan, 154.

Manzanares, the, 194, 195.

Mecca, 58, 59.

Mendoça, Don Antonio de, 128, 133.

Minnesota, state of, 256, 257.

Mississippi, source of, 257.

Mohammed, shrine of, 59.

Montezuma, 106;
children of, 114, 117.

Moorish feast, a, 53.

Moose-hunting, 180, 181.

Moquis, the, famed for their cakes, 139, 140.

Narvaez, expedition of, 129, 255.

New York, province of, 156.

Nolan, Philip, 254.

Northwest, the, 253-274.

Ohio, mounds of, 260-263.

Oregon, claim to, 255.

Oregon trail, the, 256.

Orinoco, the, 206, 207, 216, 217, 218, 219.

Orotava, 189, 192, 193.

Parkman, Francis, 142, 256.

Peabody Museum, the, 127.

_Petrariae_, 91, 92, 95.

Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 45.

Philip II. of France, 72, 90, 91, 93.

Pizarro, Gonzalo, 103.

Plutarch’s Lives, 70.

Polo, Marco, 10, 11;
Col. Yule’s edition of, 11, 30;
Irving’s account of, 11;
his father and his uncle, voyages of, 11, 12;
the Great Khan, 12;
Marco Polo sets out on his travels, 12;
return after twenty-four years, 12;
reception to his countrymen, 13;
is taken prisoner, 13;
begins to write the story of his wanderings, 14, 15, 16;
Persia and the Three Wise Men, 16, 17, 18;
Cublay Khan, 19;
the rebellion of Nayan, 20;
Caidu, 20;
battle between Nayan and the Khan, 22, 23;
Nayan’s defeat and surrender, 24.

Post-houses, 26-29, 102.

Post-houses in Tartary, 26-29.

Pottery, Indian, 127, 128.

Pueblos, 128, 129, 132, 136, 137.

Richard I. of England, 72;
landing of, at Acre, 89;
joins forces with the King of France, 90, 91, 92, 99;
Turkish estimate of, 99, 100.

Rio Negro, 219.

Robinson Crusoe, 185, 275;
the New, 185, 186;
further adventures of, 276, 277.

Roses, origin of, 34.

Royal Mendicant, story of, 35.

St. Paul, Vision of, 53.

Saladin, 71, 74, 75, 77, 80, 82, 83, 95, 96, 99.

Schenectady, 155, 156;
massacre at, 155;
early American ballad about the massacre, 155, 156.

Siberia, 275;
a Siberian snowstorm, 278, 279;
Siberian hospitality, 279-281.

Sindbad the Sailor, Fifth Voyage of, 36.

Six Nations, the, _see_ Iroquois.

South America, travels in, 187-219.

Southern Cross, the, 193, 194.

Spanish claims, 239.

Tabor, Mount, 55.

Talisman, the, 70, 71.

Tamerlane, 52.

Tartars, the, 40, 41.

Teneriffe, volcano of, 188, 189;
the ascent of the Peak, 189-192.

Terrestrial Paradise, 37, 44.

Three Wise Men, the, 16, 17, 18.

Tobolsk, 277.

Turks, manners and customs of, 65, 66, 67, 68;
valor of, 94, 95, 96, 99.

Tyre, 81, 84, 85;
archbishop of, 72.

United States, northern boundary of, 256, 257.

Verrazzani, 102.

Vesuvius, Mount, 191, 192.

Vicar of Wakefield, 69.

Washington, government reports published at, 256.

Washington, Mount, 69.

Watts, Isaac, 253.

World, early maps of, 101, 102.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] “How to Do It,” pp. 29-60.

[2] So Yule corrects Irving, who says 1250.

[3] “Early Travels in Palestine.” In Bohn’s Antiquarian Library.

[4] See “Stories of the Sea.”

[5] We follow the spelling of the old English versions, even when they
vary from each other.

[6] Mountour,--an old English rendering of the French _mountagnette_,
meaning a raised platform.

[7] This is an early mention of portable fire-arms in the East; they
were at this time novelties in Europe.

[8] The news of Saladin’s victories in Tyre, Antioch, Acre, etc.

[9] This was the river of Kalycadnus in Seleucia. The estimate given of
Frederic I. by Geoffrey is confirmed by other history.

[10] His father, Henry II. of England, had died since Richard joined
the Crusades.

[11] This is the street to Tacuba, now a village on solid ground, which
was then covered entirely by the lakes.

[12] This is always the spelling in Cortes’s letters.

[13] Called the hill of Muteczuma, on which is now a celebrated
sanctuary of the Lady de los Remedios.

[14] This is the night known as the sorrowful night, _la noche triste_.

[15] Old English spelling for ladders. Observe the word “lath” hidden
in “lathers.”

[16] The Civola of Hakluyt is the Cibola and Cevola of the other
writers. The change between _b_ and _v_ is not unfrequent.

[17] Mr. Hearne afterwards gives rather a lame explanation of the least
important part of this trick.

[18] Isla de la Gran Canaria.

[19] For this was in time of war.

[20] Of Reaumur’s thermometer. Each degree is equal to 2¼ of our
thermometers, and the zero is our 32°.

[21] “Farm of the Alligator.”

[22] Excite the fish with horses.

[23] A species of mimosa.

[24] As a favor to the merchant, I consented to share the loss with him.

[25] The Oregon Trail.

[26] Memoirs of John Quincy Adams.

[27] See Stories of the Sea, p. 107.

_Stories of War, the Sea, Adventure,
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Collected and Edited by
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These stories of great discoverers told by discoverers are now for
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_The Man Without a Country_

BY

_EDWARD EVERETT HALE_

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The moral of the story may be found in Nolan’s own pitiful words to a young sailor: “And for your country, boy, and for that flag, never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to do with, behind officers and government and people even, there is the country herself, your country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother.”

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