22 DISCOVERIES ABOUT BERING SEA. 



on the Commander Islands. He died upon the 

 one which was subsequently named for him.^ 

 Resources of Tliis last expedition made known the valuable 

 auds made kuowu. £^^j. j-esources of the Commaiider Islands, and 

 brought back to Siberia large quantities of the 

 skins of sea-otters, fur-seals, and foxes. This 

 led to the organization of many private expe- 

 ditions, and one adventurer, Bossof, is reported 

 to have gathered on tliese islands furs to the 

 value of at least one-half milHon dollars between 

 the years 1743 and 1749.- The voynges at this 

 period were numerous and indicate great activity 

 throughout the Aleutian Chain, island after 

 island being discovered by private Russian 

 adventurers.^ Discovery and subjugation to 

 Russian rule went hand in hand with trade, the 

 rich mercliants of Moscow furnishing in great 

 measure the money which sustained the cost of dis- 

 co very; and (Jook, writing in 1784, says that the 

 Russians had conquered the Aleutian Islands and 

 made them tributary.^ Several navigators under 

 Russian Impei'ial authority made further expe- 

 ditions into Bering Sea and visited various parts 

 of the coasts, but it was not until the year 1786 



' Miiller, pp. 93-97, and map (frontispiece); Cook, vol. Ill, p. 

 372; Burney, p. 170. 



■^ Bcv}^, Chronological History of the Discovory of the Aleutian 

 Islands, or the Achievements of Russian Merchants, and also an 

 Ilistiuical Review of the Fur Trade, St. I'l-tfrshnrg, 1823, p. 1 

 et seq. 



•' Burney, pp. 183-185; Coxc. i.p. SC-llO. 



* Cook, v(d. Ill, p. 372, 



