Date of de Vlsle's Map. 217 



The writer has very carefully compared the chart of Kam- 

 shatka and adjoining regions as pulilished in d'Anville's atlas 

 of 1736, in the Russian atlas of 1745, and in the de I'Isle chart 

 of 1752. From comparisons he is led to believe that^these maps 

 have substantially the same basis — that is, the chart prepared 

 by de I'Isle in 1732 for the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. 

 In this connection the criticism of the Russian officer is signifi- 

 cant. He says : " I will now finish with a general observation 

 about the part of Siberia that we see on M. de I'Isle 's chart 

 (1752). It is simply a copy of the Russian atlas (1745), without 

 even corrections of the errors of drawing and writing which have 

 crej^t into that work." Elsewhere he adds : " We can correct 

 the error of M. de I'Isle, who places Bering island at 54 degrees, 

 only a short distance from Avatscha, whereas it is on the 56th 

 parallel, 60 miles off Avatscha and 40 Dutch miles from the 

 mouth of the Kamschatka river." 



It is worthy of note that on Bellin's map of 1749(?) Bering 

 island is crossed by the 56th parallel of latitude, and that along 

 the southern edge of the Arctic ocean is a route track, marked 

 " Voyage fait par Mer en 1648 j)ar 3 vaisseaux Russiens dont un 

 est parvenu a la Kamtschatka." On de I'Isle's chart of 1752 

 also appears the route of 1648, but Bering island is in latitude 

 54°. "As to the position of Bering isle, the truth, as the Wise 

 Man tells us is oft thej3ase, abides between the two, as the 55th 

 parallel intersects the land in question. At Cape Shelagskoi, 

 d'Anville, 1737, the Russian atlas of 1745 and the de I'Isle of 

 1752 agree in charting four islands northeast of the cape instead 

 of two islands to the west. This indicates a common origin to 

 the charts, and where else can it be ascribed than to the de I'Isle 

 map of 1732? The Russian officer, hoAvever, gives a clue as to 

 the date when work on the map was commenced. He says : 



" At that time I visited M. de I'Isle. I was a witness of his geographical 

 labors as far as they had new discoveries for their object. I acted as in- 

 terpreter to M. Bering in the conversations which he had with him ; and 

 I can assert positively that when M. de I'Isle began that chart the second 

 expedition was already ordered, and Captain Bering, knowing what Avas 

 still Avanting to his discoA^eries, offered to continue them and his lieuten- 

 ants Avith him, and they received promotion in consequence." 



Lauridsen says : 



" On January 5, 1732, the Senate gave him leave of absence to go to St. 

 Petersburg. * * * Almost simultaneously he Avas j)romoted, in regular 



