TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. Xlll 



I am also under obligation to Prof. Rasmus B. Anderson, 

 Ex-United States Minister to Denmark, through whom I have 

 been enabled to make this an authorized edition, and to Reuben Gr. 

 Thwaites, Secretary of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, and 

 Frederick J. Turner, Assistant Professor of American History in 

 the University of Wisconsin, for valuable criticism and suggestions. 



In regard to the orthography of Russian and Siberian names, I 

 wish to say that I have endeavored to follow American writers that 

 advocate a rational simplification. W. H. Dall, author of "Alaska 

 and its Resources," says on this point: *'From ignorance of the 

 true phonetic value of the Russian compound consonants, and 

 from literal transcription, instead of phonetic translation, of the 

 German rendering of Russian and native names, much con- 

 fusion has arisen. Many writers persistently represent the third 

 letter of the Russian alphabet by w, writing Romanow instead of 

 Romanoff, etc. The twenty-fifth letter is also frequently rendered 

 tsch instead of ch soft, as in church, which fully represents it in 

 English. It is as gross an error to spell Kamchatka for instance, 

 Kamtschatka, as it would be for a foreigner to represent the 

 English word church by ischurtsch, and so on." From this it 

 would seem that the Germanized forms of these names are incor- 

 rect, as well as needlessly forbidding in appearance. It is, more- 

 over, due to German writers that Bering's name has been burdened 

 with a superfluous letter. Fac-similes of his autograph, one of 

 which may be seen by referring to Map I. in the Appendix, prove 

 incontestably that he spelled his name without an h. 



Although Mr. Lauridsen's book is essentially a defense of Vitus 

 Bering, written especially for the student of history and historical 

 geography, it nevertheless contains several chapters of thrilling 

 interest to the general reader. The closing chapters, for instance, 

 give, not only a reliable account of the results of Bering's voyage of 

 discovery in the North Pacific, and valuable scientific information 

 concerning the remarkable animal life on Bering Island, where, 

 before Bering's frail ship was dashed upon its shores, no human 

 foot had trod, but they also portray in vivid colors the tragic events 

 that brought this greatest of geographical enterprises to a close. 



