758 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 



For reasons which will hereafter become evident, it is necessary to 

 refer briefly to the several explorations made to eastern Siberia, and 

 later to the American mainland. In the following historical references 

 I use freely Mr. Ball s remarks, published in his work, &quot;Alaska and 

 its Resources,&quot; of which note has before been made. 



In the year 1646, the Russians, under Isai Igmitief, pushed their 

 explorations to the east of the Kolyma River, the mouth of which is at 

 about latitude 69 30 north and longitude 161 30 east, and obtained 

 by barter from some Ohukche specimens of walrus ivory. In the follow 

 ing year, 1647, four small vessels sailed eastward of Kolyma, the party 

 being under the command of a Cossack, named Simeon Deshueff. The 

 object of this expedition was to reach the Anadyr River, of which vague 

 reports had been received. Other explorers followed, but it was not 

 until 1648 that the northeast coast of Asia was passed and Bering Sea 

 entered. 



Various explorers continued, from year to year, to visit different por 

 tions of the coast of Kamchatka, but it was not until .711 that a Cos 

 sack, named Peter Iliunsen Popoff, arrived at East Cape with the 

 intention of collecting tribute from the Chukche. The visit proved 

 fruitless, but Popoff returned with an account of the Diomede Island 

 ers and the Chukche account of a continent which lay to the east and 

 beyond these islands. 



On account of the interest manifested in these discoveries, scientific 

 men succeeded in obtaining the attention of Peter the Great, and 

 instructions for an expedition were delivered to Admiral Apraxin. A 

 few days later the Emperor died, but the Empress, in order to fulfill the 

 wishes of the deceased monarch, ordered the execution of the instruc 

 tions, and Captain Vitus Bering was nominated to command the expe 

 dition. Although the original plan was formulated in 1725, it was not 

 until 1727 that Bering and his companions left St. Petersburg. He 

 sailed past what is now known as St. Lawrence Island, through Bering 

 Strait, and, thus proving the separation of Asia and America, returned 

 to the Kamchatka River on the 20th of September without having seen 

 either the Diomede Islands or the American Coast. He returned to 

 St. Petersburg in 1730, but again went on a voyage of discovery and 

 landed on Bering Island, where he died December 8, 1741. 



In the meantime various other navigators and explorers had been 

 making considerable progress in exploring the shores of Kamchatka 

 and approaching the American Coast. In 1731 Pavlutski reached Cape 

 Serdze Karnan, in the hope of securing from the Chukche some tribute. 

 This resulted in failure, and in the interim Gwosdeff sailed to the 

 Chukche Coast; a gale drove him eastward, &quot; where they, found an 

 island, and beyond it the shores of the continent of America. They met 

 a native in a Kyak, and sailed two days along the coast without being 



