THE VARIOUS EXPEDITION'S. 121 



renewed commission, to repeat the expedition the follow- 

 ing summer ; hence the winter was spent in preparations 

 for it. So far as it was possible to do so, he sought to 

 provision himself in Kamchatka, and, especially for 

 reconnoitering the coast, he built of birchwood an eight- 

 een-oared boat called the Bolsheretsk. 



On the 21st of May, 1739, he again stood out to sea 

 with all four ships, and on the 25th of the same month 

 he reached Kurile Strait, and from here sailed south 

 southeast into the Pacific to search for Gamaland and all 

 the legendary group of islands which appeared on De 

 r Isle's map. This southerly course, about on the meri- 

 dian of Kamchatka, he kept until the 8th of June, reach- 

 ing a latitude of 42°. As he saw nothing but sea and 

 sky, he veered to the west south-west for the purpose of 

 '^ doing the lands'' near the coast of Japan. Walton, 

 who, in spite of Spangberg's strictest orders, was con- 

 stantly seeking to go off on his own tack, finally, on the 

 14th of June, found an opportunity to steal away and 

 sail in a south-westerly direction. In different latitudes, 

 but on the same day, the 16th of June, both discovered 

 land. Walton followed the coast of Nipon down to lati- 

 tude 33°, but Spangberg confined his explorations to the 

 region between 39° and 37° 30' N. The country was very 

 rich. A luxuriant vegetation — grape vines, orange trees 

 and palms — decked its shores. Rich fields of rice, numer- 

 ous villages, and populous cities were observed from the 

 vessel. The sea teemed with fish of enormous size and 

 peculiar form, and the currents brought them strange 

 and unknown plants. The arrival of the ships caused 

 great excitement among the natives, beacons burned 



