1 88 DALL 



scurvy December 8, 1741. The survivors reached Kam- 

 chatka on the 27th of August, 1742. 



The immediate result of the arrival of the survivors of 

 the expedition with their wonderful tales of the abundance 

 of fur animals and the near proximity of a great archipel- 

 ago, was to stimulate every inhabitant of the region who 

 could leave Kamchatka, to push out and secure riches. 



As iron and most necessaries for shipbuilding had to 

 cross Siberia, and were correspondingly dear, the Promish- 

 leniki made themselves boats of planks sewed together 

 with rawhide thongs and caulked with moss and oil. 

 Cattle were few and precious, salt meat hardly to be had. 

 The traders stocked up with salmon and in their crazy 

 boats pushed boldly out to sea. On reaching Bering 

 Island they went ashore and hunted the sea-cow (Stel- 

 ler's manatee) and salted down its beef-like flesh. When 

 fully supplied they pushed on to the Aleutian Islands. 



There had long been traditions among the Kamchatkans 

 of islands off the Aliutorsk Cape; referring probably to St. 

 Lawrence and the Diomedes. These were known collo- 

 quially as the Aliutorski Islands. When Bering discov- 

 ered the archipelago it was concluded that these were the 

 islands of the tradition, and so the name of a Kamchatkan 

 cape became fixed upon a region and people in no other 

 way connected with it. 



The Sibiriaks did not trouble themselves to buy furs 

 from the natives. Their firearms, though few and archaic, 

 were an argument which proved conclusive in any con- 

 troversy with a people armed only with bone-headed 

 hand-lances. On arriving at a native settlement the 

 people were corralled, their furs, if any, taken as ' tribute,' 

 the young girls captured as ' hostages,' and the old people 

 sent out to hunt, bring driftwood, or catch fish for the 

 invaders. Resistance was useless, though frequently at- 

 tempted, and was punished by massacres which thoroughly 



