Review of Berings First Expedition, 1725-30. 141 
By the time of our arrival at the Lower Kamchatka post the 
ship-timber for our vessel was in large part prepared, and upon 
the 4th of April, 1728, was put upon the stocks for the vessel, 
which, with God’s help, was finished by the 10th of July, the tim- ° 
ber being hauled by dogs. Tar was made from the native tree 
which is called Listvennik | spruce], since the tar which we should 
have brought with us had not arrived. 
Before this it was not known here that tar could be obtained 
from the native trees. So also for the sea voyage, the deficiency 
of spirit made from grain was supplied by a liquor distilled from 
herbs, and salt was made by boiling sea water. To increase our 
store of sea provisions, in place of cow’s butter, fat was tried out 
from fish, in place of meat fish was salted. The vessel was pro- 
visioned with everything needful for forty men for a year. On 
the 14th day of July we went out of the mouth of the Kamchatka 
river into the sea, in obedience to the autographic orders given 
me by his Imperial Majesty Peter the Great, as the map con- 
structed for that purpose will show. 
August 8th, having arrived in north latitude 64° 30’, eight men 
rowed to us from the shore in a skin-boat, enquiring from whence 
we came and what was our business there. They said they were 
Chukchi, (whom the Russians of these parts have long known) 
and as we lay to they were urged to come to the vessel. They 
inflated some floats made of sealskin and sent one man swimming 
to us to talk, then the boat came up to the vessel and they told us 
that on the coast lived many of their nation; that the land not 
far from there takes a decided turn to the westward, and they 
also said that at no great distance from where we were, we should 
see an island. This proved true, but we saw nothing valuable 
upon it except huts. This island in honor of the day we named 
St. Lawrence, but we were not able to see any people upon it, 
though an officer was sent in a boat from the vessel on two occa- 
sions to look for inhabitants. 
On the 15th of August we arrived in the latitude of 67° 18’ and 
I judged that we had clearly and fully carried out the instructions 
given by his Imperial Majesty of glorious and ever deserving 
memory, because the land no longer extended to the north. 
Neither from the Chukchi coast nor to the eastward could any 
extension of the land be observed. If we should continue on our 
course and happen to have contrary winds we could not get back 
to Kamchatka before the close of navigation and might be 
