154 VITUS BERING. 



country, and are unprovided with provisions for win- 

 tering here/" 



It must be conceded that his position was one fraught 

 with difficulties. At this point there are two things which 

 Steller either has not correctly understood, or suppresses. 

 According to his instructions, Bering was authorized to 

 spend two years and make two voyages in the discovery 

 of America, and to undertake another expedition after- 

 wards with new preparations and equipments. And in his 

 explanations to the crew he calls special attention to this 

 point. Under these circumstances it would not have been 

 right in him to assume any more risks than absolutely 

 necessary. But here again the old opposition between 

 Bering^s nautico-geographical and Steller's physico-geo- 

 graphical interests breaks out. As a discoverer of the old 

 school Bering's principal object was to determine some 

 elementary geographical facts : namely, the distribution 

 of land and water along the new coast, and hence he left 

 Kayak Island, not to reach Avacha as soon as possible, 

 but to follow the coast of the newly discovered country 

 toward the west and north. All authorities agree on this 

 point. It was illness and the Aliaska peninsula, project- 

 ing so far into the ocean as it does, that prevented him 

 from sailing up toward latitude 65°, his real goal. Even 

 Steller testifies to this, and although he repeats his former 

 accusations against Bering, it does not signify anything, 

 as he was excluded from the councils and was obliged to 

 guess at what was adopted. His accusations are especially 

 insignificant from the fact that he definitely contradicts 

 himself on this point, for later on in his narrative he says 

 that not until the 11th of August was it resolved, on 



