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which was all I had eaten for 24 hours with the exception of hard bread. the dogs having eaten up my rabbit.

I immediately called upon the Priests wife and offered to purchase the horses. my object in buying them was not only for food, for as we would not use many of them before the sleds arrived from Ghijigha but also hauling poles to the river bank for rafting and later for distributing them along the line. She would not sell all of them in the absence of her husband as it was possible he had already sold them in Ghijigha but would let me have one for food should I require it. She could only give me a cup of tea and piece of black bread. and said that unless the sleds arrived soon she would have to kill horses for her own family. In fact the people on the river at this time depended entirely upon their nets for food and if they did not catch fish at night, they went hungry the next day. I could therefore procure no provisions here other than horsemeat. Next day 5th I started Illia and Constantine off with the 8 deer giving them half of one I found in the Umbar for their dogs. These would last the hungry party at the Myau but as many days, but Illia told me that he had been saving 4 deer for his family to eat during the freshet, which he would give my party in the last extremity. Tuesday May 7th no sleds having arrived from Ghijigha I sent two men off with a horse which I had purchased. having to borrow of Evan Emeechkoff of Crepast