534 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



the knowledge of the quarter of the world first inhabited by 

 man, and perhaps above all for the purpose of farming new 

 commercial treaties and of discovering new commercial routes, 

 Peter the Great during the latest years of his life arranged one 

 of the greatest geographical expeditions which the history of 

 the world can show. It was not until after his death, however, 

 that it was carried out, and then it went on for a series of years 

 on so large a scale that whole tribes are said to have been 

 impoverished through the severe exactions of transport that 

 were on its account imposed on the inhabitants of the Siberian 

 deserts. Its many different divisions are now comprehended 

 under the name — the Great Northern Expedition. Through tie 

 writings of Behring, Miiller, Gmelin, Steller, Krascheninnikov 

 and others, this expedition has acquired an important place for 

 all time in the history not only of geography but also of 

 ethnography, zoology, and botany ; and even now the inquirer, 

 when the natural conditii^ns of North Asia are in question, 

 must return to these works. I shall therefore, before drawing 

 this chapter to a close, give a brief account of its principal 

 features. 



The Great Northern Expedition was ushered in by " the first 

 expedition to Kamchatka " The commander of this expedition 

 was the Dane Vitus Behring, who was accompanied by 

 Lieutenant Morton Spangberg, also a Dane by birth, and 

 Alexei Chirikov. They left St. Petersburg in February 1725, 

 and took the land route across Siberia, carrying with them the 

 necessary materials with which in Kamchatka to build and 

 equip the vessel with which they should make their voyage of 

 exploration. More than three years were required for this 

 voyage, or rather for this geographico-scientific campaign ; in 

 which for the transport of the stores and the shipbuilding material 

 that had to be taken from Europe the rivers Irtisch, Ob, Ket, 

 Yenisej, Tunguska, Ilim, Aldan, Maja, Yudoma, and Urak were 

 taken advantage of. It was not until the jth April that a be- 

 ginning could be made at Nischni Kamchatskoj Ostrog of the 

 building of the vessel, which was launched on the '^^ July ; 

 and on the ^ of the same month Behring began his voyage. 



He sailed in a north-easterly direction along the coast of 

 Kamchatka, which he surveyed. On the "th August in 64° 30' 

 N.L. he fell in with Chukches, who had still a reputation among 

 the Russians for invincible courage and ferocity. First one of 

 them came to the vessel, swimming on two inflated seal-skins, 

 " to inquire what was intended by the vessel's coming thither," 

 after which their skin-boat lay to. Conversation was carried on 

 with them by means of a Koryak interpreter. On the |^ 

 August St. Lawrence Island was discovered, and on the ilth of 

 the same month the explorers sailed past the north-eastern 



