54 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



an arithmetical ratio to the time used in fitting out: ten years the 

 preparations for this great undertaking lasted, and ten^^^ hours 

 were devoted to the work itself. Of the mainland we have a 

 sketch on paper; of the country itself an imperfect idea, based 

 upon what could be discovered on the island and upon conjec- 

 tures. 



What can be said from comparison and observations at a dis- 

 tance may be summed up about as follows: The American conti- 

 nent (on this side), as far as the climate is concerned, is notably 

 better than that of the extreme northeastern part of Asia.^"^ For, 

 although the land, wherever it faces the sea, whether we looked 

 at it from near or far, consists of amazingly high mountains, ^^^ 

 most of which had the peaks covered with perpetual snow, yet 

 these mountains, in comparison with those of Asia, are of a 

 much better nature and character. The Asiatic mountains are 

 thoroughly broken up and long since deprived of their coherency, 

 consequently too loose for the circulation of mineral gases and 

 devoid of all inner heat, accordingly also without precious 



103 The MS reads "20 hours." According to the log of the St. Peter 

 (Vol. I, pp. 96 and 97) Khitrov was out from the sixth morning hour to 

 the ninth evening hour — about 15 hours; the yawl (with Steller on board) 

 from the tenth morning hour to presumably the same time in the evening 

 (Steller says, p. 51, above, "at sunset") — about 11 hours. The St. Peter 

 was at anchor from the sixth morning hour to the seventh morning hour 

 of the next day — about 25 hours. 



10* Steller, though he speaks of "the extreme northeastern part of 

 Asia," in fact refers to the Kamchatka Peninsula and not to the Chukchi 

 Peninsula, which is actually the northeastern part of Asia. Had he com- 

 pared the Chukchi Peninsula on the Siberian side of Bering Strait with 

 the Seward Peninsula on the Alaskan side he would have found the 

 physical conditions very much the same. He saw neither of these regions. 

 (B) 



105 Steller refers to the high mountains of the St. Elias region, which 

 is the part of Alaska he had best opportunity to see. The mountains of 

 the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, w^hich he had some glimpses 

 of, have somewhat similar topography and vegetation to those of the 

 Kamchatka Peninsula. (B) 



