xui.] DEATH OF BEHRING. 547 



fled when the vessel approached. From this point Behring 

 wished to sail in a north-westerly direction to that promontor}^ 

 of Asia which formed the turning-point of his first voyage. It 

 was however only with difficulty that in the almost constant fog 

 the peninsula of Alaska could be rounded and the vessel could 

 sail forward among the Aleutian island groups. Scurvy now 

 broke out among the crew, and the commander himself suffered 

 severely from it, on which account the command was mainly in 

 the hands of Lieut. Waxel. At an island the explorers came 

 into contact with the natives, who at first were quite friendly, 

 until one of them was offered brandy. He tasted the liquor, and 

 was thereby so terrified that no gifts could calm his uneasiness. 

 On this account those of the crew who were on land were 

 ordered to come on board, but the savages wished to detain 

 their guests. At last the Russians were set free, but a Koryak 

 whom they had taken with them as an interpreter was kept 

 behind. In order to get him set at liberty, Waxel ordered two 

 musket salvos to be fired over the heads of the natives, with the 

 result that they all fell flat down from fright, and the Koryak 

 had an opportunity of making his escape. Now the fire-water 

 is a liquor in great request among these savages, and they are 

 not frightened at the firing of salvos of musketry. 



Durinjc the followino- months Behrin^'s vessel drifted about 

 without any distinct plan, in the sea between Alaska and Kam- 

 chatka, in nearly constant fog, and in danger of stranding on 

 some of the many unknown rocks and islands which were passed. 

 On the 5th November the vessel was anchored at an island 

 afterwards called Behring Island. Soon however a great wave 

 arose which threw the vessel on land and crushed it against the 

 rocky coast of the island. Of the wintering there, which, through 

 Steller's taking part in it, became of so great importance for 

 natural history, I shall give an account further on in connection 

 "svith the narrative of our visit to Behring Island. Here I shall 

 only remind the reader that Behring died of scurvy on the y*th 

 December, and tliat in the course of the voyage great part of his 

 crew fell a sacrifice to the same disease. In spring the survivors 

 built a new vessel out of the fragments of the old, and on the 

 Yg^th of August they sailed away from the island whej-e they had 

 underg(jne so many sufferings, and came eleven da3^s after to a 

 haven on Kamchatka. 



After parting from Behring, Chirikov on the f 5-th July sighted 

 the coast of America in 50° N.L. The mate Abraham Demen- 

 TIEV was then sent ashore in the longboat, which was armed with 

 a cannon and manned by ten well-armed men. When he did not 

 return, another boat was sent after him. But this boat too did 

 not come back. Probably the boats' crews were taken prisoners 

 and killed by the Indians. After making another attempt to 



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