Page:Narrative of the extraordinary adventures of four Russian sailors (1).pdf/15

 reindeer, which they split into several threads, served them to sew with.

Excepting the uneasiness which generally accompanies an involuntary solitude, these people, having this by their ingenuity so far overcome their wants, might have had reason to be contented with what Providence had done for them in their distressful situation. But that melancholy reflection, to which each of these forlorn persons could not help giving way, that perhaps he might survive his companions, and then perish for want of subsistence, or become a prey to the wild beasts, incessantly disturbed their minds. The mate, Alexis Himkof, more particularly suffered; who, having left a wife and three children behind, sorely repined at his being separated from them: they were as he told me constantly in his mind, and the thought of never more seeing them made him very unhappy.

When our four mariners had passed nearly six years in this dismal place, Feoder Weregin, who all along had been in a languid condition, died, after having, in the latter part of his life, suffered most excruciating pains. Tho’ they were thus freed from the trouble of attending him, and the grief of being witnesses to his misery, without being able to afford him any relief, yet his death affected them not a little; they saw