BERING'S REPORT 13 



my whole company, which included 20 carpenters and blacksmiths from 

 Irkutsk and two coopers from Ilimsk. 



Along the Tunguska, Ilim, and Lena Rivers, as far as the Vitim, 26 live 

 the idolatrous Tungus who have deer for riding, but those who have 

 no deer make their homes along the banks of streams an dsubsist on 

 fish and get about in birch canoes. 



In the spring of 1726 we left Ust-Kut in 15 barges and went down the 

 Lena to Yakutsk. From the Vitim down along the Lena, on both banks, 

 live the Yakuts and a small number of Tungus. The Yakuts have 

 many horses and cattle which supply them with food and clothing, but 

 those that have but few of these animals live on fish. They are idolaters; 

 they worship the sun and the moon and, of the birds, the swan, the 

 eagle, and the raven. They hold in high respect their priests, whom 

 they call shamans, who keep in their possession small idols (bolvanov) 

 known to them as shaitany. They claim to be of Tatar origin. 



On arriving at Yakutsk I called for help to assist my men on the barges, 

 and, as soon as they came, I dispatched Lieutenant Spanberg in 13 

 of the boats that were built at Ust-Kut and drew but little water 

 down the Lena to the Aldan and from there up the Maya and the 

 Yudoma. These barges were loaded with materials which could not 

 be transported overland, besides other naval and land stores. I had 

 hoped that this freight could be taken by water as far as Yudoma Cross, 26 

 a much cheaper way than sending it by horses. That same summer 

 I, with a small number of my men, went from Yakutsk to Okhotsk on 

 horseback, taking with us a pack train, each horse carrying only a five- 

 pood 27 load, and in this manner we brought over sixteen hundred poods 

 of provisions. It was impossible to make use of wagons owing to the 

 mud and the hills. At Okhotsk Post there are only ten Russian dwell- 

 ings. Lieutenant Chirikov was left behind to winter at Yakutsk with the 

 understanding that he was to come overland to Okhotsk in the spring. 



Towards the end of December, 1726, I received word from Lieutenant 

 Spanberg that his boats were ice-bound in the Gorbea River, 28 about 

 450 versts from Yudoma Cross, and that he had made sleds and was 

 hauling on them the most needed material. I made up a party from my 

 own men and those of the ostrog and gave them dog teams and supplies, 

 and sent them to the relief of the lieutenant. He arrived with his com- 

 pany about the first part of January, 1727, without, however, bringing 



25 The Vitim is a right branch of the Lena flowing into it in 113 E. (see Fig. 3) and 

 is known for its fine sables. In 191 1 the Tungus, including the Lamuts, numbered 

 75,204; the Yakuts 245,406. 



26 At the headwaters of the Yudoma, where navigation ceases, there was erected 

 a cross, hence the name Yudoma Cross. For this part of the route, see map, Fig. 4. 



27 A pood is about 36 pounds. 



28 A left tributary of the Yudoma near its mouth. Probably the Derbi River 

 of today. 



