BERING^S FIRST EXPEDITION. 13 



the boundary between Asia and America. The first 

 two projects did not survive the Czar, but Bering 

 clung to the plan proposed for him, and accomplished 

 his task. 



Peter the Great gave no heed to obstacles, and never 

 weighed the possibilities for the success of an enterprise. 

 Consequently his plans were on a grand scale, but the 

 means set aside for carrying them out were often entirely 

 inadequate, and sometimes even wholly inapplicable. His 

 instructions were usually imperious and laconic. To his 

 commander-in-chief in Astrakhan he once wrote: *^ When 

 fifteen boats arrive from Kazan, you will sail them to 

 Baku and sack the town.^^ His instructions to Bering are 

 characteristic of his condensed and irregular style. They 

 were written by himself, in December, 1724, five weeks 

 before his death, and are substantially as follows : **I. At 

 Kamchatka or somewhere else two decked boats are to be 

 built. II. With these you are to sail northward along the 

 coast, and as the end of the coast is not known this land 

 is undoubtedly America. III. For this reason you are 

 to inquire where the American coast begins, and go to 

 some European colony; and when European ships are seen 

 you are to ask what the coast is called, note it down, make 

 a landing, obtain reliable information, and then, after 

 having charted the coast, return." 



After West Europe for two centuries had wearied itself 

 with the question of a Northeast passage and made strenu- 

 ous efforts to navigate the famed Strait of Anian, Eussia 

 undertook the task in a practical manner and went in 

 search of the strait, before it started out on a voyage 

 around the northern part of the old world. 



