are the first recorded al inhabitants. The nt fortunes. Tschits, and therefore unne. Adverse winds He supplied himself distilling the ocean sails. But at last ched Kamtschatka, i seventy diminished time Behring was he uncertain waves. r seventeen days, so The ancient pilot, who years, declared that in his life. Scurvy ing horrors. The a sufferer. Rigging Anchors were lost. vessel was cast upon at a name, where the a ditch and half-covtection against cold, 11. His body after i out of the ground" 1, which is called by s an outpost of the is the Russian navi"y of America, died in recent demarcation, his last resting-place

"

RUSSIA.

r these expeditions, by the palm of discovery, umbered in those seas. acquired was continued private individuals, who st of furs. In 1745 the discovered by an adven

otters. In successive ls were visited for simithese was Ounalaska, roup of Fox islands, conn of the Aleutian islands, d productions were mi11768 private enterprise n expedition ordered by ne, which, leaving Kamtswhole archipelago and the which to the islanders stood inent. Shortly afterwards , beginning with those of rikow, were verified by the gator, Captain Cook. In ng the northwestern coast, irikow anchored in 1741;" of mountains "wholly covin the highest summit down **with the summit of an eleove the horizon," which he e Mount St. Elias of Behrvery anchorage of Behring; lands through which Behring ong the coast by the island

including the Shumagins and the magnificent island of Kodiak, and then the Sitkan group, being archipelago added to archipelago, and the whole together constituting the geographical complement to the West Indies, so that the northwest of the continent answers archipelago for archipelago to the southeast.

DISCOVERY OF RUSSIAN AMERICA BY BEHRING, under INSTRUCTIONS FROM PETER THE GREAT.

The title of Russia to all these possessions is derived from prior discovery, which is the admitted title by which all European Powers have held in North and South America, unless we except what England acquired by conquest from France; but here the title of France was derived from prior discovery. Russia, shut up in a distant interior and struggling with barbarism, was scarcely known to the other Powers at the time they were lifting their flags in the western hemisphere. At a later day the same powerful genius which made her known as an empire set in motion the enterprise by which these possessions were opened to her dominion. Peter the Great, himself a shipbuilder and a reformer, who had worked in the ship-yards of England and Holland, was curious to know if Asia and America were separated by the sea, or if they constituted one undivided body with different names, like Europe and Asia. To obtain this information he wrote with his own hand the following instructions, and ordered his chief admiral to see them carried into execution:

One or two boats with decks to be built at Kamtschatka, or at any other convenient place, with which inquiry should be made in relation to the northerly coasts, to see whether they were not contiguous with America, since their end was not known; and this done, they should see whether they could not somewhere find an harbor belonging to Europeans or an European ship. They should likewise set apart some men who should inquire after the name and situation of the coasts discovered. Of all this an exact journal should be kept, with which they should return to Petersburg."-Müller's Voyages from Asia to America, by Jeffreys, p. 45.

The Czar died in the winter of 1725; but the Empress Catharine, faithful to the desires of her husband, did not allow this work to be neglected. Vitus Behring, a Dane by birth, and a navigator of some experience, was made commander. The place of embarkation was on the other side of the Asiatic continent. Taking with him officers and ship-builders the navigator left St. Petersburg by land 5th February, 1725, and commenced the preliminary journey across Siberia, northern Asia, and the sea of Okhotsk to the coast of Kamtschatka, which they reached after infinite hardships and delays, sometimes with dogs for horses, and sometimes supporting life by eating leather' bags, straps, and shoes. More than three years were passed in this toilsome and perilous journey to the place of embarkation. At last on the 20th of July, 1728, the party was able to set sail in a small vessel, called the Gabriel, and described as "like the packet-boats used in the Baltick." Steering in a northeasterly direction, Behring passed a large island, which

he called St. Lawrence from the saint whose day it was seen. This island, which included in the present cession, may be c sidered as the first point in Russian discover as it is also the first outpost of the Nor American continent. Continuing northwas and hugging the Asiatic coast, Behring turn back only when he thought he had reached t northeastern extremity of Asia, and was sat fied that the two continents were separat from each other. He did not penetrate furt || north than 67° 30'.

a count I

In his voyage Behring was struck by t absence of such great and high waves, as, other places, are common to the open sea, a he observed fir trees swimming in the was although they were unknown on the Asia coast. Relations of inhabitants, in harmo with these indications, pointed to ": at no great distance toward the east." E work was still incomplete, and the naviga before returning home put forth again for discovery, but without success. By ano dreary land journey he made his way back: St. Petersburg in March, 1730, after an abses of five years. Something was accomplish for Russian discovery, and his own fame w T engraved on the maps of the world. straits through which he sailed now bear name, as also does the expanse of sea what he traversed on his way to the straits.

He

The spirit of discovery continued at & Petersburg. A Cossack chief undertaking: conquer the obstinate natives on the norther ern coast, proposed also "to discover the pr tended country on the Frozen sea." killed by an arrow before his enterprise w completed. Little is known of the result; b it is stated that the navigator whom he selected, by name Gwosdew, in 1730 succeed in reaching a "strange coast" between sixte five and sixty-six degrees of north latitu where he saw people, but could not speak wi them for want of an interpreter. This m have been the coast of North America, &! not far from the group of islands in Behri straits, through which the present bound passes, separating the United States fr Russia, and America from Asia.

Behr

The desire of the Russian Government get behind the curtain increased. volunteered to undertake the discoveries th remained to be made. He was created a co modore, and his old lieutenants were crea captains. The Senate, the Admiralty, and t Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg united in the enterprise. Several academici were appointed to report on the natural hist of the coasts visited, among whom was St ler, the naturalist, said to be "immortal" fr this association. All of these, with a nume ous body of officers, journeyed across Siber northern Asia, and the sea of Okhotsk. Kamtschatka, as Behring had journeyed befor Though ordered in 1732, the expedition not able to leave the western coast until June, 1741, when two well-appointed ship

et sail in company "to discover the continent f America." One of these, called the St. Paul, was under Commodore Behring; the ther, called the St. Peter, was under Captain "schirikow. For some time the two kept ogether; but in a violent storm and fog they vere separated, when each continued the xpedition alone.

Behring first saw the continent of North America on 18th July, 1741, in latitude 58° 28'. Looking at it from a distance "the country ad terrible high mountains that were covered with snow." Two days later he anchored in a heltered bay near a point which he called rom the saint day on which he saw it, Cape St. Elias. He was in the shadow of Mount St. Elias. On landing he found deserted huts, ire-places, hewn wood, household furniture, in arrow, edge-tools of copper with "store of red salmon." Here also several birds unknown in Siberia were noticed by the faithful Steller, among which was the blue jay, a peculiar species, now called by his name. Steering northward, Behring found himself constrained by the elbow in the coast to turn westward, and then in a southerly direction. Hugging the shore, his voyage was constantly arrested by islands without number, among which he zigzagged to find his way. Several times he landed. On one of these occasions he saw natives, who wore upper garments of whale's guts, breeches of seal-skins, caps of the skins of sea lions, adorned with various feathers, especially those of hawks." These "Americans" as they are called were fishermen, without bows and arrows. They regaled the Russians with "whale's flesh," but declined strong drink. One of them, on receiving a cup of brandy, "spit it out again as soon as he tasted it and cried aloud, as if complaining to his countrymen how ill he had been used." This was on one of the Shumagin islands, near the southern coast of the peninsula of Alaska.

66

Meanwhile, the other solitary ship, proceeding on its way, had sighted the same coast 15th July, 1741, in the latitude of 56°. Anchoring at some distance from the steep and rocky cliffs before him, Tschirikow sent his mate with the long boat and ten of his best men, provided with small-arms and a brass cannon, to inquire into the nature of the country and to obtain fresh water. The long boat disappeared in a small wooded bay, and was never seen again. Thinking it might have been damaged in landing the captain sent his boatswain with the small boat and carpenters well armed to fur-|| nish necessary assistance. The small boat disappeared also, and was never seen again. At the same time great smoke was observed continually ascending from the shore. Shortly afterwards two boats filled with natives sallied forth and lay at some distance from the vessel, when, crying "Agai, Agai," they put back to the shore. Sorrowfully the Russian navigator turned away, not knowing the fate of his comrades and unable to help them. This was not far from Sitka.

But at last

Such was the first discovery of these northwestern coasts; and such are the first recorded glimpses of the aboriginal inhabitants. The two navigators had different fortunes. Tschirikow, deprived of his boats, and therefore unable to land, hurried home. Adverse winds and storms interfered. He supplied himself with fresh water only by distilling the ocean or pressing rain from the sails. on the 9th October he reached Kamtschatka, with his ship's company of seventy diminished to forty-nine. During this time Behring was driven, like Ulysses, on the uncertain_waves. A single tempest raged for seventeen days, so that Andrew Hosselberg, the ancient pilot, who had known the sea for fifty years, declared that he had seen nothing like it in his life. Scurvy came with its disheartening horrors. The commodore himself was a sufferer. Rigging broke. Cables snapped. Anchors were lost. At last the tempest-tossed vessel was cast upon a desert island, then without a name, where the commodore, sheltered in a ditch and half-covered with sand as a protection against cold, died 8th December, 1741. His body after his decease was "scraped out of the ground" and buried on this island, which is called by his name, and constitutes an outpost of the Asiatic continent. Thus the Russian navigator, after the discovery of America, died in Asia. Russia, by the recent demarcation, does not fail to retain his last resting-place among her possessions.

TITLE OF RUSSIA.

For some time after these expeditions, by which Russia achieved the palm of discovery, imperial enterprise slumbered in those seas. The knowledge already acquired was continued and confirmed only by private individuals, who were led there in quest of furs. In 1745 the Aleutian islands were discovered by an adventurer in search of sea otters. In successive voyages all these islands were visited for similar purposes. Among these was Ounalaska, the principal of the group of Fox islands, constituting a continuation of the Aleutian islands, whose inhabitants and productions were minutely described. In 1768 private enterprise was superseded by an expedition ordered by the Empress Catharine, which, leaving Kamtschatka, explored this whole archipelago and the peninsula of Alaska, which to the islanders stood for the whole continent. Shortly afterwards all these discoveries, beginning with those of Behring and Tschirikow, were verified by the great English navigator, Captain Cook. In 1778 he sailed along the northwestern coast,