Rewew of Bering s First Kxpedition, 1725-30. 111 
A CRITICAL REVIEW OF BERING’S FIRST EXPEDI- 
TION, 1725-30, TOGETHER WITH A TRANSLATION 
OF HIS ORIGINAL REPORT UPON IT. With a Map. 
Bae AWaie Jel" 1DyNibi ey 
ConTENTS. — Introductory remarks. — Instruments and Methods. — 
Sources of information.—Translation of Bering’s Report.—Bering’s 
List of Geographical Positions.—An Itinerary of the Expedition.— 
Annotated Synopsis of the Voyage compiled from all accessible data. 
—Comparative Table of Geographical Positions.—Resumé of the 
results of the Expedition. 
In 1648 the tide of exploration and adventure setting eastward 
through Siberia, impelled the fitting out of seven small trading 
boats on the Kolymariver. Three of these, in charge of Simeon 
Deshneff, Gerasim Ankudinoff and Feodor Alexieff, respectively, 
reached Bering Strait. Ankudinoff’s boat was wrecked on East 
Cape, but his party was accommodated on the others. There 
were hostilities with the Chukchi, the two boats were separated, 
and Deshneff’s alone finally reached Kamchatka. Next year he 
constructed the trading post on the Anadyr river subsequently 
known as Anadyrsk. 
There is a tradition that in 1654 a trader named Taras Stadu- 
kin followed Deshneff’s route, made a portage across the neck of 
East Cape, circumnavigated Kamchatka, discovered the Kurile 
Islands, and finally reached the Gulf of Penjina in safety. 
In 1711 an emissary named Peter Iliunsen Popoff was sent to 
East Cape by the Russians to induce the Chukchi to pay tribute. 
In this he failed, but brought back an account of islands beyond 
Kast Cape, and of a continent reported by the Chukchi to exist 
beyond these islands. Some statements which he made in regard 
to the people of this continent were regarded by geographers of 
the last century as fictitious, but with our better knowledge, they 
set the seal of authenticity upon Popoff’s report and show that 
his journey was really made. 
The political disorders which prevailed in Western Russia 
about this period, prevented any attention from being directed to 
the reports of these explorations, which were preserved in the 
archives at Yakutsk. Somewhat later the attention of geog- 
VOL. IL. 8 
