xvi authoe's preface. 



Besides this, I derived much benefit from his comprehensive 

 knowledge of Siberia, obtained on travels in the same regions where 

 Bering had been. He has had the kindness to examine the collec- 

 tion of charts and maps in both the Admiralty and Imperial 

 libraries, and secure for me some valuable copies. He has also, at 

 my request, examined a series of articles in periodicals containing 

 notices of Bering's geographical enterprise. 



It is only by means of this valuable assistance that I have suc- 

 ceeded in basing this biographical sketch on Russian literature, and 

 putting it, as I hope, on a par with what has been written on this 

 subject by Russian authors. 



Of the many others that in one way or another have seconded 

 my efforts in giving as valuable a biography of my renowned fellow- 

 countryman as possible, I owe special thanks — not to mention the 

 Hielmstierne-Rosencrone Institution — to Mr. Hegel, the veteran 

 publisher. Col, Hoskier, Dr. Karl Verner, instructor in Sclavonic 

 languages at the University of Copenhagen, who has examined some 

 very difficult archival matter for me. Professor Alexander Vasili- 

 evich Grigorieff, Secretary of the Imperial Russian Geographical 

 Society, and to Mr. E. W. Dahlgren, Secretary of the Swedish 

 Society for Anthropology and Geography. P. L. 



