604 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. 



only six weeks before the shijjwreckecl men left the island, and 

 the hunting thus fell at a time when they could leave the build- 

 ing of the vessel to occupy themselves in that way only in case 

 of necessity. Besides, only two animals were required to yield 

 flesh-food to all the men for the. period in question. 



It is remarkable that the sea-cow is so mentioned by later 

 travellers only in passing, that this large animal, still hunted by 

 Europeans in the time of Linnaeus, would scarcely have been 

 registered in the system of the naturalist if Steller had not 

 wintered on Behring Island. What Krascheninnikov says of the 

 sea-cow is wholly borrowed from Steller, and in the same way 

 nearly all the statements of later naturalists as to its occurrence 

 and mode of life. That this is actually the case is shown by the 

 following abstract, complete as far as I know, of what is said of 

 the sea-cow in the only original account of the first hunting 

 voyages of the Russians to the Aleutian Islands, which was 

 published at Hamburg and Leipzig in 177G with the title, Neiie 

 Naclirichten von denen neuentdechtcn Insidn in der See zwischcn 

 Asien und Amerika, aus mitgetkeilten Urkunden und Ausziigen 

 verfasset von J. L. 8 * * (Scherer).^ In this book the sea-cow is 

 mentioned at the following places : — 



" Ivan Krassilnikoff's vessel started first in 1754 and arrived 

 on the 8th October at Behring Island, where all the vessels fitted 

 out for hunting the sea-otter on the remote islands are wont to 

 pass the winter, in order to provide themselves with a sufficient 

 stock of the flesh of the sea-cow " {loc. cit. p. 38). 



" The autumn storms, or rather the wish to take on board a 

 stock of provisions, compelled them (a number of hunters sent 

 out by the merchant Tolstyk under command of the Cossack 

 Obeuchov) to touch at Commander's Island (Behring Island) 

 where, during the winter up to the "^gth June, 1757, they obtained 

 nothing else than sea-cows, sea-lions, and large seals. They found 

 no sea-otters this year " {ibid. p. 40). 



^ From this little work, compiled from the original journals (Of. Coxe, 

 Mussian Discoveries, 1780, p. vi.) we see that the undaunted courage and 

 the resolution which, matched with other qualities not so praiseworthy, 

 distinguished the Promyschlenni during their expeditions of exploration, 

 tribute-collecting, and plunder from the Ob to Kamchatka, did not fail 

 them in the attempt to force their way across the sea to America. It 

 happens yearlj^ tliat a ship's crew save themselves from destruction in 

 the most extraordinary craft, for necessity has no law. But it is perhaps 

 not so common that an exploring expedition, wrecked on an uninhabited 

 treeless island, builds for itself of fragments from its own vessel, indeed 

 even of driftwood, a new one in order to sail out on the ocean to discover 

 new fishing-grounds or new wild tribes, willing to pay "jassak" to the 

 adventurers. Tliis however happened very frequently during the Russian 

 voyages of discovery and hunting to the Aleutian Islands from 1745 to 

 1770, and it was remarkable that the craft built iu this way were used 

 for years, even after the return from the first voyage. 



