I 



xiii.] THE DISCOVERY OF KAMCHATKA. 520 



northern expedition, some account remains to be given of the 

 discovery of Kamchatka. It appears from the preceding that 

 Kamchatka was already reached by some of Deschnev's fol- 

 lowers, but their important discovery was completely unknown 

 in Moscow. Kamchatka is, however, already mentioned in the 

 narrative of Evert Ysbrants Ides' embassy to China in 1693-95 ; ^ 

 accounts of it had probably been obtained from the Siberian 

 natives, who are accustomed to wander far and near. These 

 accounts, however, are exceedingly incomplete, and therefore, 

 VOLODOMIR Atlassov, pidtidesdtnik (i.e., commander of fifty 

 men) at Anadyrsk, is considered the proper discoverer of 

 Kamchatka. 



While Atlassov was commander at Anadyrsk, he sent out in 

 1696, the Cossack Lucas Semenov Sin Morosko with sixteen ■ 

 men to bring the tribe living to the south under tribute. The 

 commission was executed, and on his return Morosko stated that 

 he not only was among the Koryaks, but had also penetrated to 

 the neighbourhood of the river Kamchatka, and that- he took 

 a Kamchadal " ostrog," and found in it some manuscripts in an 

 unknown language, which, according to information afterwards 

 obtained, had belonged to some Japanese who had stranded on 

 the coast of Kamchatka.^ It was the first hint the conquerors 

 of Siberia obtained of their being in the neighbourhood of 

 Japan. 



The year after Atlassov, with a larger force, followed the way 

 which Morosko had opened up, and penetrated to the river 

 Kamchatka, where as a sign that he had taken possession of the 

 land, he erected a cross with an inscription, which when trans- 

 lated runs thus : Bi the year 7205 (i.e. 1697) 07i the ISth Ju/y 

 this cross loas erected by the pidtidesdtnik Volodomir Atlassov and 

 his followers, 55 men. Atlassov then built on the Kamchatka 

 river a simovie, which was afterwards fortified and named Verchni 

 Kamtschatskoj Ostrog. Hence the Russians extended their 

 power over the land, yet not without resistance, which was 

 first completely broken by the cruel suppression of the rebellion 

 of 1730. 



In 1700 Atlassov travelled to Moscow, carrying with him 



^ In the tweutieth chapter of Dreyjdhrige Reise nach China, &c., Frank- 

 fort, 1707. Tlie first edition came out at Hamburg in 1698. 



'■^ MiiUer, iii. p. 19. An account of Atlassov's conquest of Kamchatka 

 (Bericht geflaen floor zeker Moskovisch Icryrjs-hediende Wolodimer Otlasofd, 

 hooft-muii over vtjftig, &c.) is besides to be found in Witsen (1705, Nieuivc, 

 xdtguaf, 1785, p. 670). An account, written from oral communication by 

 Atlassov himself, is to be found inserted in Strahlenberg's Travels, p. 4;>1. 

 Stralilenberg' considers Kamchatka and Yezo to be the same land. A 

 history of the conquest of Kamchatka, evidently written according- to 

 traditions current in the country, is to be found in KrascheiUnnikov {French 

 edition of 1770, ii. p. 291). In this account 1G98 and 1699 are given as the 

 years of Morosko's and Atlassov's expeditions. 



M M 



