182 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



Lad said he was G7 years old, he denies this and says that Nordeiis- 

 kjold's account rests on a mistake. His father, Vasilij Burdukovskij^ 

 died in 1842, at the age of 88 years.* 



I told hiui that Nordenskjiikl in his book gives the year of his death 

 as 1847, but he maintains that 1842 is correct, and that he told Nor- 

 denskjold so. He remarks, as to Nordensitjiild's statement that his 

 father came from Volhyuia, that he exi)ressly said Vologda, his father 

 being originally a native of the town Lalsk of that province.! The 

 statement that he was 18 years old when he airived at Ikying Island 

 is correct. 



He remembers but very little of what his father told him about the sea- 

 cow, but recalls that nothing else than the kidneys were eaten, an<l that 

 the hide was used for "i^yV7«m," but no hajdard covered with the hid(^ 

 of the sea-cow lasted so long that he himself has ever seen one; or even 

 the remnants of one. I asked him repeatedly if the sea-cows were not 

 killed in order to get at the heart, but he answered every time that it was- 

 for the sake of the kidneys {Russ. ""iKH't), and that Mordenskjold has 

 misunderstood him. iSTordenskjold's statement that the hide was so 

 thick that it could be split in two, one hide thus being sufficient for 

 one hajdard, is equally erroneous. The hide was thinned down but not, 

 split,§ and for a twelve-maii hajdard two hides were required. He does- 

 not understand how Nordenskjold can have misunderstood him so com- 

 pletely." Such was his statement, written down rcrhathn, with Novd- 

 enskjold's book at hand, and its greater correctness com])ared with that 

 reported by Nordenskjold is corroborated by several other fa(;ts and 

 statements mentioned in the foot-notes. Burdukovskij is still in full 

 possession of his mental and physical faculties. 



Recalculating Nordenskj old's computation we arrive at the following- 

 conclusions: Vasilij arrived at Bering Island in 1772 (or 1770, it 

 Volokitin's statement of his age is the correct one), and if, during the 

 first two II years of his stay there, he really saw living sea-cows, this- 

 animal has been in existence until 1774 (eventually 1772), or G (4) years 

 longer than supposed v. Baer and Brandt. 



However, if we consider that Vasilij was sixty-five years of age when 



* This stateu.ent is corroborated by Mr. Volokitiii, who asserts that old Burdukovskij 

 had been dead five years, when he (V.), iu 1847, came to Bering Ishuid. He gives 

 his age as 90 years. Mr. Volokitin's statements are fully trustworthy. 



tl have seen hero a page of an old journal containing inter alia that "Vasilij Bur- 

 dukovski, from L'alsk," died in the same year as the journal was written. Unfortu- 

 nately the page is without date, but the year 1841 is mentioned in another place iu 

 such a connection as to make it probable that the journal was written in the year 

 following. 



t Steller gives the weight of the kidneys as more than 30 pounds. 



§1 Compare Steller's statement, that the true skin " ist etwas dicker als eine Ochsen- 

 haut." That the hide was " thinned down," jirol^ably means that the exterior crust, 

 which was about an inch thick, and consisting of cDalcHcent liairs("?), was removed. 



II Burdukovskij says, "two or three years"; we would hardly be justified in adopt- 

 ing the larger figure. 



