CHARACTER ESTIMATE 5 



drew from his observations on the voyage have, on the whole, 

 stood the test of time. He sometimes erred in matters of detail; 

 he occasionally, owing to his strong prejudices against the naval 

 officers, made erroneous assumptions, but he was seldom wrong 

 in his scientific reasoning. Modern scientists may not wholly 

 accept his theories, but they cannot altogether sweep them 

 aside. ^ 



Not only intellectually but physically and temperamentally 

 Steller was well fitted for exploration. He was strong, tireless, 

 and devoted to his work. He accomplished more in one day than 

 the average investigator did in a month. His wants were few and 

 easily satisfied. His fellow scientists had cooks, servants, supply 

 wagons, and camping outfits, but Steller was his own cook and 

 servant and lived oti" the country. One plate, one cup, one 

 pocketknife, and his blankets constituted his personal baggage. 

 Traveling light, he covered much ground and went to places 

 where his more dignified and encumbered colleagues could not 

 follow, and in the end he achieved more than they. Gmelin and 

 Delisle de la Cro>ere had to be provided with European foods 

 and European wines, but Steller purposely lived on nati\"e foods 

 in order to ascertain their nutritive values and their effects on 

 white men. In a report to the Yakutsk commandant he stated 

 that during the winter and spring (1743- 1744) which he and his 

 men spent on Bering Island not one of them tasted bread and 

 not one of them was the worse for it, and he thus convinced 

 himself that European food was not essential for the Russians 

 in Kamchatka. 



Steller's weak point was his inability to work with other 

 people. He lacked tact, sympathy, and appreciation of the 

 other man's point of view. He was always quarreling and making 

 enemies. Sometimes it was with his fellow German scientists 

 but more often with the Russian officers in Siberia, on whom 

 he looked down as beneath his notice. He was ever sending com- 

 plaints against them, the burden of his charges being that they 



* For Steller's published works see the bibliography at the end of the 

 volume. 



