APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BPaTAIN. 271 



interior, and stniogiino- with barbarism, was scarcely known to the 

 other Powers at tlie time tliey were lifting" their tiags 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 pos- 

 sessions were opened to her dominion. Peter the Great, himself a ship- 

 builder and a reformer, who had worked in the shii)-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 w itli 

 his own hand the following instructions, and ordered his Chief Admiral 

 to see them carried into execution: 



Oue or two boats with decks to be l>nilt at Kamtschatka, or at any other conven- 

 ient phice, with which inquiry should be made in relation to the northerly coasts, 

 to see whether they were not contiguous witli America, since their end was not known ; 

 and this doue, they sliould see whether they could not somewhere find a harbour 

 belonging to Eurojjeans or an European ship. They should likewise set apart some 

 men who should iuqiiire alter the name and situation of the coasts disco\'t'red. Of 

 all this an exact journal should be kept, with which they should return to {St. Petcis- 

 burgh. (Muller's " Voyages from Asia to America," by Jeffreys, p. 45.) 



The Czar died in the winter of 1725, but the Empress Catharine, faith- 

 ful 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 ofticers and ship-builders, 

 the navigator left St. Petersburgh by land on the 5th February, 1725, 

 and commenced the preliminary journey across Siberia, N^orthern Ashi, 

 and the Seaof Okhotsk to the coast of Kamtchatka, whi(;h they reached 

 after infinite hardsliipsand 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 jierilous journey 

 to the place of embarkation. At last, on the 20th 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 Baltic." Steering in a north-east- 

 erly direction, Behring jiassed a large island, which he called St. Law- 

 rence, from the saint on whose day it was seen. This island, which is 

 included in the present cession, may be considered as the first point in 

 Russian discovery, as it is also the first outjjost of the North American 

 Continent. Continuing northward, and hugging the Asiatic coast, 

 Behring turned back only when he thought he had reached the north- 

 eastern extremity of Asia, and was satisfied that the two continents 

 were separated from each other. He did not penetrate further north 

 than 07° 30'. 



In his voyage Behring was struck by the absence of such great and 

 high waves as in other places are common to the open sea, and he observed 

 fir trees swimming in the water, although they were unknown on the 

 Asiatic coast. Relations of inhabitants, in harmony with these indica- 

 tions, pointed to "a country at no great distance toward the east." His 

 work was still incomplete, and the navigator before returning home i)ut 

 forth again for this discovery, but without success. By another dreary 

 land journey he made his way back to St. Petersburgh in March 1730, 

 after an absence of five years. Something was accomplished for Rus- 

 sian discovery, and his own fame was engraved on the Mapsof the world. 

 The straits through which he sailed now bear his name, as also does 

 the expanse of sea which he traversed on his way to the straits. 



The spirit of discover}^ continued at St. Petersburgh. A Cossack 

 Chief undertaking to conquer the obstinate natives on the north-eastern 

 coast, proposed also "to discover the pretended country on the Frozen 



