beeing's fiest expedition. 37 



We may possibly feel inclined to blame Bering for 

 his haste. Why did he not cruise about in the region 

 of 65° to 67° north latitude ? A few hours" sailing would 

 have brought him to the American coast. This objec- 

 tion may, however, prove to be illegitimate. The geo- 

 graphical explorer, as well as every other investigator, 

 has a right to be judged from the standpoint of his 

 times, and on the basis of his own premises. Bering 

 had no apprehension of an adjacent continent, partly 

 on account of the Koriak interpreter's imperfect knowl- 

 edge of the Chukchee tongue, partly as a result of the 

 fact that the knowledge of the times concerning 

 the western coast of America was very meager. This 

 knowledge extended no farther than to 43° north 

 latitude, — to Cape Blanco in California; hence, in the 

 nature of things, he could not be expected to search 

 for land which presumably he knew nothing of. But 

 here we must also take into consideration his poor 

 equipment. His cables, ropes, and sails were in such 

 bad condition, after the three years" transport through 

 Siberia, that he could not weather a storm, and his 

 stock of provisions was running so low that it put an 

 unpleasant check on any inclination to overreach his 

 main object, and this, as we have seen, did not include 

 the exploration of an American coast, if separated from 

 Asia. To explore a new coast thirteen degrees of lati- 

 tude and thirty degrees of longitude in extent, and make 

 such a chart of it that its outline is comparatively cor- 

 rect, and which, for a long time, was far superior to any- 

 thing made afterward,* ought certainly to be considered 



* Note 12. 



