522 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



These accounts were sufficient to incite the Cossacks and 

 hunters to new expeditions. The beginning was made by IsAl 

 Ignatiev from Mesen, who, along with several hunters, tra- 

 velled down the Kolyma in 1646 to the Polar Sea, and then 

 along the coast eastwards. The sea was full of ice, but next 

 the land there was an open channel, in which the explorers 

 sailed two days. They then came to a bay, near whose shore 

 they anchored. Here the Kussians had their first meeting with 

 the Chukches, to which reference has already been made. 

 Hence Ignatiev returned to the Kolyma ; and the booty was 

 considered so rich and his account of his journey so promising, 

 that preparations were immediately made in order next year 

 to send off a new maritime expedition fitted out on a larger 

 scale to the coast of the Polar Sea. 



This time Feodot Alexejev from Kolmogor was chief of 

 the expedition, but along with him was sent, at the request of 

 the hunters, a Cossack in the Russian service in order to guard 

 the rights of the crown. His name was SiMEON IVANOV SiN 

 Deschnev ; in geographical writings he is commonly known 

 under the name of Deschnev. It was intended to search for 

 the mouth of the great river lying towards the east, regarding 

 which some information had been obtained from the natives, 

 and which was believed to fall into the Polar Sea. The first 

 voyage in 1647, with four vessels, was unsuccessful, it is said, 

 because the sea was blocked with ice. But that this was not 

 the real reason is shown by the fact that a new and larger 

 expedition was fitted out the following year with full expecta- 

 tion of success. The crews of the four boats had more probably 

 been considered too weak a force to venture among the 

 Chukches, and the ice had to bear the blame of the retreat. 

 What nian could not reproach the conquerors of Siberia with, 

 was pusillanimity and want of perseverance in carrying out a 

 plan which had once been sketched. Resistance always in- 

 ci-eased their power of action ; so also now. Seven boats were 

 fitted out the following year, 1648, all which were to sail down 

 to the Polar Sea, and then along the coast eastwards. The 

 object was to examine closely the unknown land and people 

 there, and to their own advantage and the extension of the 

 Russian power, to collect tribute from the tribes met with 

 during the expedition. Miiller states that every boat was 

 manned with about thirty men — a number which appears to 

 me somewhat exaggerated, if we consider the nature of the 

 Siberian craft and tlie difficulty of feeding so large a number 

 either with provisions carried along with them or obtained 

 by hunting. 



Four of the boats are not mentioned further in the narrative ; 

 they appear to have returned at an early period. The three 



