XI.] BERING'S FIRST EXPEDITIOX. 239 



Onsiforov, the ringleader of the mutineers, returned to the 

 Kamschatka Elver in 1712, and partly in consequence of these 

 services, partly, no doubt, because of the strong force by which he 

 was attended, liis various misdeeds were passed over in silence, and 

 he was again employed in expeditions against the natives. The 

 country was at this time in a condition of the greatest insecurity. 

 The Cossacks, under Kttle or no control, killed and pillaged the 

 Kamschatdales at every opportunity, and the tax-gatherers were 

 constantly murdered in retaliation. Frequent mutinies took place, 

 and from the state of anarchy into which the country had fallen, no 

 tribute reached Yakutsk between the years 1707 and 1714. The 

 exploration of the country nevertheless continued. More of the 

 Kurile Islands were discovered, and in 1715 communication by sea 

 was established between the ports of Okhotsk and Bolcheresk, 

 which led to the discontinuance of the overland route to Yakutsk 

 via Anadyrsk. Not only was the former far more direct and rapid, 

 but it was also attended with much less risk ; the attacks of the 

 hostile Koriaks and Tchuktchis, which rendered the sledge journey 

 extremely dangerous, being thereby avoided. 



Hitherto the attention of the Eussians had chiefly been en- 

 gaged in the investigation of the country lying to the south of 

 Anadyrsk. But the question of the continuity of Asia and America 

 had long been occupying the mind of Peter the Great, who was at 

 that time Czar, and he resolved that an expedition should be 

 undertaken with that aim. Accordingly, with his own hand, he 

 drew up instructions, in which he ordered that ships should be 

 constructed in Kamschatka, that they should direct their course 

 northwards with the object of setting at rest the question of the 

 existence of a strait between the two continents, and that they 

 should endeavour to extend the Eussian dominions wherever 

 possible. Before further action had been taken the reign of Peter 

 the Great was terminated by death, but the Empress Catherine, on 

 coming to the throne, at once proceeded to carry out the instructions 

 of the Czar. In 1725 the first expedition started, and Bering 



