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to guide the raft in calm weather.

The fa^[[r]]ther we advanced on the platok, the better progress we made, and after a day or two we would frequently meet large tunderas, entirely above water.

As nearly all the country was flooded, wild fowl selected these spots for building their nests, many of which we found and by shooting the birds we managed to get along very well. It was impossible to make any headway with our raft, when the wind blew, as there was very little current, and often we had to tie up to keep from being driven backwards.

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Wednesday June 15/27, we arrived at what is called Vaccarana, a single house on the side of the platok within a mile of the Myan River. I sent men to try and get some provisions, but the place was deserted, the owner having gone down the Myan to fish. Shortly afterwards we struck the Myan, which was a magnificent stream, more than a mile in width. We sounded and found 21 feet of water, but one of the men told me that where I was sounding was a dry bar in summer.

Near this place we saw a herd of wild deer on the tundera, and preparations were made to spear them from canoes, but the herd did not attempt to swim the river, and the scheme failed, much to our disappointment, both on account of [[left margin]](20)[[/left margin]] the want of provisions, and our desire to witness