184 FROM CONCEPTION BAY 



been happily concluded by only two officers. The 

 illness of Lieutenant Zacharin obliged him to 

 remain at Kamtschatka ; and now I had to make 

 the dangerous voyage to Beering's Straits, with 

 only one officer ; yet this did not make me irreso- 

 lute, as Schischmareff's eagerness, like my own, 

 w^as undiminished. Only the impossibility of pur- 

 suing my previous plan, which had so agreeably 

 occupied my fancy for a long time, excited my 

 regret ; for what could we execute in Beering's 

 Straits, as one of us would constantly be obliged 

 to remain on board. 



M. Wormskloid, the naturalist, whom we had 

 brought with us from Copenhagen, also expressed 

 a wish to remain here, with the intention of making 

 discoveries in natural history on the high moun- 

 tains of Kamtschatka ; I therefore recommended 

 him to Lieutenant Rudokof, who readily promised 

 to assist him in his scientific researches, as much 

 as lay in his power. 



As my crew consisted of only twenty sailors, 

 which was not sufficient for the undertaking in 

 Beering's Straits, I obtained, at my request, from 

 the commandant, six more sailors, whom I pro- 

 mised to bring back the following year ; because 

 it was my intention, after finishing the examination 

 of Beering's Straits, to return to the harbour of 

 St. Peter and St. Paul. The Russian American 

 Company gave me an Aleutian, and tliis addition 

 of seven men was of very great assistance to me in 

 the sequel. 



