52 VITUS BERII^G. 



At Bolsheretsk Bering collected his men, distributed 

 provisions and powder, left the Fortuna with a crew 

 of one corporal and eleven men, and on the 14th of 

 July steered for Okhotsk. After a fortunate, but not 

 otherwise remarkable, journey, he reached St. Peters- 

 burg on the 1st of March, 1730. ^*From the perusal 

 of his ship^s journal, '^ says Berch, '^one becomes con- 

 vinced that our famous Bering was an extraordinarily 

 able and skillful officer ; and if we consider his defect- 

 ive instruments, his great hardships, and the obstacles 

 that had to be overcome, his observations and the great 

 accuracy of his journal deserve the highest praise. He 

 was a man who did Russia honor." 



Bering had thus done good work in the service of 

 Asiatic geography. He had shown that he possessed 

 an explorer^s most important qualification — never to 

 make positive statements where there is no definite 

 knowledge. By virtue of his extensive travels in north- 

 eastern Asia, his scientific qualifications, his ability to 

 make careful, accurate observations, and his own astro- 

 nomical determinations, and by virtue of his direct 

 acquaintance with Kosyrefsky^s and Lushin's works, he 

 was in a position to form a more correct opinion than 

 any contemporary concerning this part of the earth. 

 In spite of these great advantages in his favor, his 

 work was rejected by the leading authorities in St. 

 Petersburg. It is true that Bering found sincere sup- 

 port in the able and influential Ivan Kirilovich Kiriloff, 

 but to no one else could he turn for a just and com- 

 petent judge. The great Eussian empire had not yet 

 produced a scientific aristocracy. The Academy of 



