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it until Spring. I preferred the former. Lieut Arnold volunteering to accompany me I wrote a letter stating who we were & the object of my expedition, (which Lieut. Harder copied into Russian) to show any Russian traders I might meet on the road or at Anadyrsk. I did not take Lieut. Harder with me because I thought him too young & inexperienced to deal with the rough people with whom we would be thrown.

Monday Jany 8th (U.S.) I placed Mr. Robinson in charge of camp and we left. The snow was very soft and heavy and tho' we traveled day & night and only laid over one day, it was the night of the 13th before we reached the Deer Chiefs encampments. I found them situated in the narrow valleys of a chain of mountains above Lat 62°45 N. Long. 176 E. I visited the Deer Chief & learned that the rifle I had sent him had not been delivered, & that O-Cary-Cray had made arrangements with him to furnish me with deer or sleds. He said he did not go to Anadyrsk and refused to furnish any transportation. It was now evident that O-Cary-Cray had been telling me falsehoods from the beginning. I then asked him how he proposed to take us, and the truth of the matter was at once