Itinerary of the Russisn Officer (Waxel). 223 



It is significant that although Waxel omits any reference to it, 

 the following 2")aragraph, which is evidently intended to he excul- 

 patory of Bering's turning back at the most northerly point of 

 his first voyage, forms part of Bering's report as translated by 

 Dall : " Neither from the Chukchi coast nor to the eastward 

 could any extension of the land be observed." This very impor- 

 tant sentence does not appear in du Halde's account, and evi- 

 dently was not in the copy which was furnished him. Possibly 

 the person who furnished the copy to du Halcle omitted it. 

 Elsewhere Waxel adds : 



" I say nothing here which I have not repeatedly heard M. Bering say. 

 I also saw his instructions." 



This gives value to his statements in reference to Bering's 

 efforts to find land east of Avatscha bay, whereof Waxel quotes 

 cle I'Isle as saying : 



" On his return to Kamtschatka (in 1729) M. Bering learned that there 

 was a land to the east, which could be seen in clear, fine weather. He 

 attemiated to go thither, after having repaired the damage his vessel had 

 suffered in a storm. The second attempt was fruitless, for after sailing 

 abovit forty leagues to the east without seeing land, he was assailed by a 

 violent tempest and a contrary wind, which quickly drove him back to 

 the port whence he had emerged." 



In criticism Waxel adds : . 



" Would not this narrative lead one to believe that tlie second attempt 

 of M. Bering had been made immediately after the first voyage [in 1729] ? 

 However, it was entirely otherwise : Before making this journey M. Ber- 

 ing wintered at Kamtschatka, set sail only on June 5, 1729, and, vnthout 

 intending to return to the port lohich he was quitting, doubled the southern 

 point of Kamtschatka and went straight to the mouth of the river Bol- 

 schaia-Reka and thence to Ochozk." 



He further says : 



" Perhaps it may appear strange that M. Bering during this voyage did 

 not fall in with the island (Bering island) whereon he was shipwrecked 

 during his second expedition ; but the isle might have been hidden by 

 fogs, which are very common in that sea." 



Waxel's account of the second voyage is worth translating, 

 being the plain tale of a participant, who is as modest as he is 

 truthful, for Waxel nowhere mentions his own name nor the 



