116 VITUS BERING. 



and is open and frank in his praise. He says: "In the 

 spring of 1742 Chelyuskin crowned his work by sailing 

 from the Khatanga River around the eastern Taimyr 

 peninsula and also around the most northerly point of 

 Asia. He is the only one who a century ago had suc- 

 ceeded in reaching and doubling this promontory. The 

 fact that among many he alone was successful in this 

 enterprise^ must be attributed to his great ability. On 

 account of his perseverance, as well as his careful and 

 exact measurements, he stands preeminent among sea- 

 men who have labored in the Taimyr country." And 

 furthermore, in 1785, Sokoloif published a very careful 

 and extensive account of these labors, together with an 

 extract from Chelyuskin^s diary relating to the charting 

 of the Taimyr peninsula, which later was published in 

 German by Dr. Petermann.* The difference in latitude 

 of the northern point of the Taimyr peninsula as deter- 

 mined by Chelyuskin and by Nordenskjold is scarcely 

 three minutes, f 



* Note 52. 



t In his review of my book in the Journal of the American Geographical 

 Society, XVII., p. 288, Baron Nordenskjold says: "Mr. Lauridseu has devoted 

 nearly two pages to showing that I am wrong in what 1 have said of Chel- 

 yuskin—that 'up to a recent date the statement that he really did reach the 

 northern point of Asia was doubted.' But I had certainly the right to say 

 this. If a person in 1742 performed one of the heroic deeds of geography 

 without having received any acknowledgment for it in his lifetime, and if 

 the best authorities in this person's own country a century later still consid- 

 ered him an impostor, I was surely justified in giving the above-quoted opin- 

 ion in 1880, in spite of the fact that two eminent geographical authorities have 

 withdrawn their charges. Moreover, is it really the case that Sokoloff's and 

 Von Baer's later writings made it impossible to revive the old charge ? He who 

 can assert this must be but slightly acquainted with the history of geography, 

 and with that of Siberian geography above all." In a note Nordenskjold 

 adds: "Previous to the departure of the Vega from Sweden, I received a letter 

 from an unknown well-wisher to our voyage, cautioning me not to put too 

 much faith in the Chelyuskin exploration story, as the writer of the letter 



