176 VITUS BERIi^G. 



which reason great scientific interest attaches to the 

 stranding of the St. Peter. Of this animal life Steller 

 gives us in his various works descriptions which are unex- 

 celled in power and fidelity. These have made Bering's 

 second voyage immortal. Naturalists will again and again 

 turn to them. For this reason it would seem that Steller 

 had no ground for complaint that Bering had taken him 

 from his real field of investigation : Kamchatka — a com- 

 plaint made in our day by 0. Peschel — for on Bering 

 Island he first found that field of labor and that material, 

 the description of which has immortalized his name.* 



With the exception of the Arctic fox, the higher 

 fauna of these islands were found exclusively among 



*Dr. Stejneger, ever on the alert to honor Steller, says in Deutsche Geo- 

 grapMsche Blatter, 1885: "It was due to Steller that not only a majority of 

 the participants survived, but that the expedition won a lasting name in 

 the history of science. Bering left his name to the island upon which he 

 died, and the group to which it belongs, Komandorski (Commander Islands), 

 was named after his rank. Moreover, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, a peninsula 

 in Asia, and a bay in America have been named in honor of him. But what 

 is there in these regions to remind one of the immortal Steller, the Herod- 

 otus of these distant lands ? Search the map of the island of which he has 

 given such a spirited description. His name is nowhere to be found, while 

 three capes have received the names of Bering's lieutenants and helmsmen, 

 who were the authors of the whole misfortune : Waxel, Khitroff, and Jushin. 

 The man that rescued and immortalized the expedition has fallen into 

 oblivion. I consider it an honor that it has been granted to me to render 

 long deferred justice to this great German investigator. The highest moun- 

 tain peak on Bering's Island will henceforth be called Mount Steller." 



In speaking of a description by Steller of some rock formations on the 

 western coast that resembled ancient ruins. Dr. S. says in the same article: 

 "I landed at the only remaining one of these arches, under which Steller 

 had probably walked. It is a fine specimen of a natural triumphal arch, 

 standing quite by itself. In honor of Steller I called it Steller's Triumphal 

 Arch. No monument marks his resting-place on the desert steppes of Sibe- 

 ria; Russia has never forgiven him for his ingenuous criticism of the injus- 

 tice of her courts; but Steller's name will nevertheless live. His Triumphal 

 Arch, gaily decked with the variegated lichens Caloplaca murorum and 

 crenulata, and adorned with the lovely white golden-eyed blossoms of the 

 Chrysanthemum arcticum, is a monument that does fitting honor to the great 

 naturalist."— Tr. 



