STELLER JOINS EXPEDITION 17 



through no fault of mine but because the Captain Commander 

 kept his promise to me so poorly that he only let me see the 

 American mainland from a distance and was finally persuaded 

 at last to put me ashore on three islands, ^^ though only for a 

 few hours, without any assistance, like a malefactor, and with 

 great reluctance and many sarcastic remarks not encouraging to 

 my honest zeal. Moreover, no proposal of mine, not even the 

 most insignificant, was considered worthy of being accepted, be- 

 cause those in command were too much imbued with their own 

 wisdom, until the disastrous end and a just dispensation exposed 

 their unfortunately too naked vanity. 22 It was the resentment at 

 having already been so long in Siberia and having to stay there 

 still longer which spurred these gentlemen ^s on to do in one 

 summer's voyage and in one attempt that which, according to a 

 moderate calculation, would necessarily require two summers. 



They did not take it into consideration that during the be- 

 ginning of July the Kamchatkan coast between 56° and 51° is 

 often beset with ice and that this ice cannot come, as they 

 alleged, from the strait between the Chukchi Promontory and 



21 Kayak Island (see, below, p. 41), and Nagai (p. 77) and Bird 

 Islands (p. 93) of the Shumagin group, although Steller did not actually 

 set foot on Bird Island. 



" Pallas has modified this sentence so as to make the criticism apply 

 to the other officers as well, while in the MS Steller refers to Bering only. 

 The MS reads: "Likewise, he did not accept even the most insignificant 

 proposal of mine from a too exalted opinion of his own counsel, although 

 the end and the divine judgment afterwards very plainly demonstrated 

 how far the reason of the one [Steller] differed from the unfounded 

 guesses of the other [Bering] and what great respect the one [Steller], 

 even when most obstructed, entertained for the other [Bering], his 

 services, and the general good resulting therefrom." The translation of 

 the last clause is not certain, as this clause is somewhat obscure in the 

 original. The translation seems plausible, however, in view of Steller's 

 fair-minded estimate of Bering at the time of his death (see the journal, 

 below, pp. 155-157). The obscure clause reads in the original: "und wie 

 grose Hochachtung einer vor den andern auch in den grosten Wieder- 

 wartigkeiten vor seine Dienste und das daraus fiiesende Interesse ge- 

 heget." (S) 



23 The MS reads "him," i e. Bering. 



