XIII. ] FATE OF ANKUDINOV'S PARTY. 525 



mouth, where he discovered a walrus-bank, whence he brought 

 home wah"us-tusks. There afterwards arose a dispute between 

 Deschnev and SeHvestrov ^ regarding the rights founded on the 

 discovery of this wah'us-bank, which came before the authorities 

 at Yakutsk, and it was from the documents relating to it that 

 Miiller obtained the information that enabled him to give a 

 narrative of Deschnev's expedition. Only in this way have 

 the particulars of this remarkable voyage been rescued from 

 complete oblivion.^ 



In 1653 Deschnev gave orders to collect wood to build craft 

 in which he intended to carry home by sea the tribute . he 

 had collected to the Kolyma, but he was compelled to desist 

 from want of the necessary materials for the building and equip- 

 ment of the boats, comforting himself with the statement of 

 the natives that the sea was not always so open as during 

 his first voyage. Compelled by necessity, he remained a year 

 lonofer at the Anadyr, and in 1654 undertook a new huntinof 

 voyage to the walrus-bank, where he met with the before- 

 mentioned Selivestrov. He here came in contact with the 

 natives (Koryaks), and found among them a Yakut woman, who 

 had belonged to Ankudinov. On asking her where her master 

 had gone to, she answered that Feodot and Gerasim (Ankudinov) 

 had died of scurvy, and that their companions had been killed 

 with the exception of some few, who had saved themselves in 

 boats. It appears as if the latter had penetrated along the 

 coast as far as to the river Kamchatka. For when Kamchatka 

 was conquered by Atlassov in 1697 the natives stated that a 

 long time before one Feodotov (probably a son of Feodot 

 Alexejev) had lived among them along with some companions, 

 and had married their women. They were venerated almost 

 as gods. They were believed to be invulnerable until they 

 struck another, when the Kamchadals saw their mistake and 

 killed them.^ 



By the expeditions of Deschnev, Staduchin, and their 

 companions, the Russians had by degrees become acquainted 

 with the course of the Anadyr and with the tribes living on 

 its banks. But it still remained for them to acquire a more 



^ Selivestrov had accompanied Staduchin during his Pohxr Sea voyage, 

 and had, at liis instance, been sent out to collect walrus-tusks on account of 

 the State. He appears to have come to the Anadyr by land. 



2 Strahlenberg must have collected the main details of this voyage by 

 oral communications from Russian hunters and traders. 



3 According to Miiller. Krascheninnikov {Histoire et description du 

 Kamfschatica, Amsterdam, 1770, ii. p. 292) states, evidently from infor- 

 mation obtained in Kamchatka, that the river Nikul is called Feodot- 

 ovchina after Feodot Alexejev, who not only penetrated thither, but also 

 sailed round the southern jjromontory of Kamchatka to the River Tigil, 

 where he and his followers perished in the way described by Miiller. 



