24 VITUS BERING. 



land expeditions, consisting of 800 horses, were sent in 

 various directions. Bering himself started out on 

 August 16, with 200 horses, and after a journey of 

 forty-five days, reached Okhotsk. The journey was a 

 very difficult one. The horses sought in vain for food 

 under the deep snow. Scores of them were overcome 

 by hunger and exhaustion. The severe cold caused the 

 forces much suffering and hardship, nor did they find 

 but few comforts when they reached Okhotsk in the 

 latter part of October. The town consisted of only 

 eleven huts, with ten Eussian families, who supported 

 themselves by fishing. Here, too, many of the horses 

 died for lack of food, and a herd of heifers sent there 

 by Shestakoff was lost from the same cause. Only 

 one survived the winter. It was now necessary to build 

 huts for the winter. The whole of November was spent 

 in felling trees, and not until December 2, could 

 Bering take shelter under a roof of his own. On the 

 other hand, the ship for the expedition was on the 

 stocks, and in spite of all troubles and privations, 

 Bering found time to push forward vigorously its 

 construction. 



Spangberg, however, fared worst of all. Winter took 

 him by surprise two hundred and seventy-five miles 

 from Yudomskaya Krest, the nearest inhabited place, 

 in an entirely barren and swampy region where he could 

 not obtain the slightest assistance. His boats and the 

 bulk of their provisions had to be left at the confluence 

 of the Yorbovaya and the Yudoma, while he and his 

 men, with what provisions they could take with them 

 on the hand-sleds, started out for Okhotsk on foot. 



