CHAPTER II. 



RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS. DE8HNEFF. EXPEDITIONS OF 1711. 



LESS EFFORTS. LAPTEFF. BEHRING. HIS SHIPWRECK AND BEAT*. 



FATE OF THE SURVIVORS. SCHALAROFF. SLEDGE EXPEDITION. - 



ADMIRAL VON WRANGELL'S EXPEDITIONS. 



HITHERTO we have been chiefly occupied with the 

 explorations on and around Northern America, and we 

 now come to the history of those along the continent 

 of Asia, the northern limit of which extends over a 

 gpace of 145 of longitude. The discovery and survey 

 of this vast region is due entirely to the Russians ; for, 

 although other nations attempted the passage, they 

 penetrated ne further than the Karskoie Sea and Cape 

 North on the east. The first knowledge of the coun- 

 tries which here bound the polar basin was, as in the 

 case of the other continent, derived from private adven- 

 turers, who undertook journeys into those desolate 

 regions in hope^ of a profitable trade in furs, skins, and 

 ivory. Russian traders, sailing from the White Sea 

 and mouth of the Petchora, voyaged as far as Obi and 

 the lennissei ; their vessels, similar to those of early 

 British navigators, were little better than shallops, and 

 it is impossible not to be struck with the labors of those 

 whose chief resource was indomitable perseverance. 



The first endeavors under government authority 

 were made about the year 1600 ; and trading-stations 

 wers established at the mouths of most of the larger 



