222 General A. W. Greehj — Bering's First Voyage. 



This officer, then, should be the very best authority on this 

 question, especially as he gives details, is always exact in his 

 dates, and sets no value on the observations. Whether or not 

 such observations of lunar eclipses took place, these extracts 

 tend to confirm Ball's opinion that the}^ served no purpose in 

 determining the longitude of Kamshatka. 



The letter and its author are worth some attention at our hands. 

 As has been said, it was published anonymously, and I do not 

 know that its authorship has ever been traced. It appears from 

 the letter that the writer was an officer of the Russian navy ; 

 that he was a Russian ; that he was on familiar terms with both 

 Bering and de I'Isle ; that he acted as interpreter betAveen them 

 in 1730-1731 ; that he was with Bering in his last voyage to 

 America, and was one of the ship-wrecked mariners on Bering 

 island, and that on his return to St. Petersburg he was charged 

 with the compilations from the various shi^D journals. As the 

 naval officer states he was with Bering on Bering island, it is 

 evident that it must have been either Swen Wax el, Sophron 

 Chitrow, or Steller, the well-known scientific professor serving 

 with Bering's expedition. It could not have been Steller, since 

 the professor was a German, and moreover he died in November, 

 1746, prior to the date of the letter. It is improbable that it was 

 Chitrow, who was originally in a subordinate position as a master- 

 of-fleet, but while serving in Kamshatka and prior to Bering's 

 second voyage was made a lieutenant. It is not likely that a 

 subordinate of Chitrow's position should have been so situated 

 in St. Petersburg as to have served as an interpreter between 

 Bering and de I'Isle. It is therefore more than probable that 

 Lieutenant Swen Waxel was the author of the letter. In further 

 confirmation, this officer says that he is charged with the prepa- 

 ration of a chart out of the material furnished by the maps and 

 journals of the separate vessels. As we know from other sources, 

 Waxel later made a chart of the Kamschatka region. 



Waxel displayed great energy and excellent judgment in con- 

 ducting affairs on Bering island, both before and after Bering's 

 death, and it is gratifying to note his intellectual discrimination 

 in dealing with de I'lsle's fictitious account of a journey in 

 America said to have been made by one Admiral de Fonte. 

 Waxel skilfully dissects this geographical invention, clearly 

 proving its inconsistencies, while geographical writers in England 

 were engaged years later in endeavoring to prove its truthfulness. 



