Bering's first expeditioi^. 33 



having sailed seven miles in this direction, he determined 

 to turn back. At 3 o'clock he announced, that as he 

 had now accomplished his task, it was his duty, accord- 

 ing to his orders, to return. His bearings were then 

 67° 18' N. latitude, and 30° 19' east of the Kamchatka 

 fort, or 193° 7' east of Greenwich. In Du Halde, where 

 Bering himself gives his reasons, it is stated : '^This was 

 Captain Bering's most northerly point. He thought that 

 he had accomplished his task and obeyed orders, especially 

 as he no longer could see the coast extending toward the 

 north in the same way. (Surtout, parcequ'il ne voyait 

 plus que les terres continuassent de courier de meme du cote 

 du Nord.") Moreover, if they should go farther, he feared, 

 in case they should have adverse winds that they might 

 not be able to return to Kamchatka before the end of 

 the summer, and how were they to be able to pass the 

 winter in such a climate, liable to fall into the hands of a 

 people who had not yet been subjugated, and who were 

 human only in outward appearance.* 



When Bering turned about, his command was to steer 

 south by west, half west. In this course they sailed with 

 the wind at a rate of more than seven miles an hour. At 

 9 o'clock in the morning, they saw a high mountain on 

 the right, where Chukchees lived, and to the left and 

 seaward they saw an island, which in honor of the day 

 they called Diomede.f This day they sailed 115 miles, 

 and reached latitude Q%° 2'. 



On August 17, Bering again passed the narrowest part 

 of the strait. The weather was cloudy, there was a fresh 

 breeze, and they sailed along the Asiatic coast, where 



* Note 8. t Note 9. 



