<S ALEUTIAN ISLAISDS. 



wliicli rims into the Northern Ocean, had never 

 attempted any passage by sea. He therefore retm*ned 

 home disappointed in the object of his search. 



He again made the attempt in 1729, but failed 

 from adverse winds. No fm'ther effort was made 

 till 1741, when Behring again sailed with Tschirikof 

 on their notable enterprise in their two vessels, the 

 "St. Peter" and "St. Paul;" and steering to the E.S.E., 

 and S.E. by E., reached the continent of America 

 on the 15tli of July. The precise position of the 

 spot has been much contested, but there is good 

 reason to suppose he landed in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Kayes Island, lat. C0° N., long. 144° 30' 

 W. It again seems strange that Beluing should thus 

 have proceeded so far to the east without reaching land, 

 as the whole range of Aleutian or Fox Islands, with 

 the promontory of Alaska, lay directly in the com'se 

 between the points of his departure from Asia and 

 arrival in America, extending in a scattered line from 

 America to within ten degrees of the Kamtchatkan 

 coast. In the beginning of September, on then' return 

 voyage, the expedition fell in with the chain of the 

 Eox Islands, and on the 6th of November landed on 

 Behring's Island, at first supposing it to be the main- 

 land of Avatcha ; here they suffered great misery and 

 sickness, and on the 8th of November Behring died. 



