150 National Geographic Magazine. 
of the truth, or two hundred and sixty-five miles south of the entrance 
to the bay as platted on Bering’s own chart. 
Bering’s table in his report and Bering’s chart as printed by D’Anville 
differ from each other fifteen miles in latitude and two degrees and 
twenty-five minutes or nearly seventy-five miles in longitude. The 
chart is the more correct, but it differs more than thirty miles in lati- 
tude and nearly a degree in longitude from the modern observations of 
Liitké and Rodgers for the same locality. After leaving Holy Cross Bay, 
the voyage was continued to the southeast along the ‘‘ high and rocky 
coast” of which Lauridsen (probably paraphrasing Bergh) says that 
‘‘every indentation was very carefully explored.” This is obviously a 
flight of fancy, since a good part of this coast is low and sandy, while 
there is no indication of two excellent harbors which it affords, on any 
of the charts of Bering or his successors in that century. 
Aug. 6/17, 1728. This day, the festival of the Transfiguration, 
found the Gabriel entering a small bay, which on that account 
was named Transfiguration (Preobrazhenia) Bay. Here they 
anchored (L.). Lieutenant Chaplin was sent ashore for water 
and found native huts but no people. 
Notes.—This bay has never been surveyed, and on the best modern 
charts is merely indicated, while on many others it is omitted altogether 
or the name transferred to the anchorage north of Cape Bering or to 
Plover Bay. Bering’s position for the spit at the entrance of Transfigu- 
ration Bay is two degrees and a quarter too far east and sixteen miles 
too far north by the table, but his chart gives the position much more 
closely, with a difference from Rodgers’ chart of not exceeding five 
miles. 
Aug. 7/18. They proceeded along the coast in a south-south- 
easterly direction. 
Note.—The total eclipse of the moon of this date could hardly have 
been observed by Bering, since the moon must have been close to the 
horizon and first contact of the shadow occurred only about five minutes 
before the moon set. As Bering does not mention it, it is not likely 
that he noted the eclipse. 
Aug. 8/19. At seven in the morning a skin-boat (umiak or 
bidarré) was observed to be launched from the shore, eight men 
getting into it and rowing toward the vessel (B.). They 
approached within hail, and were understood, through the aid of 
the Kariak interpreters on board the Gabriel, to enquire whence 
the vessel came and what was the object of the expedition in 
entering these waters. After much persuasion one of the natives 
left the skin-boat and swam, sustaining himself on two inflated 
