THE VAEIOUS EXPEDITIONS. 139 



the New World was to open up before them. According 

 to the plan adopted, a southeasterly course was taken, 

 and in s]3ite of some unfortunate friction, Bering gave 

 Chirikoff the lead, so as to leave him no cause for com- 

 plaint. They kept their course until the afternoon of 

 June 12, when they found themselves, after having sailed 

 over six hundred miles in a southeasterly direction, in 

 latitude 4G° 9' N. and 14° 30' east of Avacha. According 

 to De FIsle's map they should long before have come to 

 the coasts of Gamaland, but as they only saw sea and sky, 

 Bering gave the command to turn back. With variable 

 and unfavorable winds, they worked their way, during 

 the few succeeding days, in a direction of N. N. E. up to 

 latitude 49° 80', where Chirikoff, on the 20th of June, in 

 storm and fog, left Bering and sailed E. IST. E. in the 

 direction of the American coast, without attempting to 

 keep with the St. Peter. This was the first real mis- 

 fortune of the expedition. For forty-eight hours Ber- 

 ing kept close to the place of separation, in hopes of 

 again joining the St. Paul, and, as this proved fruitless, 

 he convened a ship^s council, at which it was decided 

 to give up all further search for the St. Paul ; it was 

 also resolved — in order to remove every doubt — to 

 sail again to the 46th degree to find Gamaland. Hav- 

 ing arrived here, some birds were seen, whereupon they 

 continued their course to 45° 16' N. and 16° 23' east of 

 Avacha, but of course without any results. During the 

 four succeeding weeks, the ship's course was between 

 north and east, toward the western continent, but as on 

 their southern course they had come out upon the depths 

 of Tuscarora, which, several thousand fathoms deep, run 



