112 VITUS BERING. 



M. Fries in Upsala have published accounts of the his- 

 tory of the Northeast passage, in which not a word about 

 these expeditions is found. Between the days of Vlam- 

 ing and Cook, from 1688 until 1778, they find nothing 

 to be said of explorations in this part of the world, and 

 the charting of these waters does not, in their opinion, 

 seem to have any connection with the history of the 

 Northeast passage. Prof. Fries attempts to justify 

 this strange method of treatment by the assertion that 

 these expeditions did not seek the navigation of the 

 Northeast passage, and did not undertake to sail a ship 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But what authority, 

 what historical foundation, have such assertions ? Simply 

 because the Kussians parceled out this work and went at 

 it in a sensible manner; because they did not loudly 

 proclaim their intention to sail directly from the Dwina 

 to Japan ; because they had been instructed by the 

 visionary and fatal attempts of West Europe, — yes, one 

 is almost tempted to say, just because these Russian 

 expeditions alone are of any importance in the early 

 history of the passage, the Swedish historians pass them 

 .by ; Prof. Fries has even ventured the assertion that the 

 discovery of the Northeast passage by these Russian 

 expeditions, one hundred and thirty-seven years before 

 Nordenskjold, is a discovery hitherto unsurmised by 

 anyone but the author of this work. I am not dis- 

 posed to wrangle about words, and still less to interfere 

 with anyone's well-earned privileges. By the discovery 

 of the Northeast passage, I understand that work of 

 geographical exploration, that determination of the dis- 

 tribution of land and water along the northern boundary 



