148 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



and the entrails, we carried home, where we did not arrive until 

 night. From the liver, kidneys, heart, and the meat of these 

 animals we made several palatable dishes and ate them grate- 

 fully and with the wish that Providence would not deprive us of 

 this food in the future or put us in the necessity of eating the 

 stinking, disgusting, and hated foxes, which nevertheless, out of 

 prudence, we did not want to exterminate but only to frighten. 

 The precious skins of the sea otters we regarded already as a 

 burden which had lost its value to us, and, as we had no leisure 

 to dry and prepare them, they were thrown about from one day 

 to another until finally they spoiled, together with many others, 

 and were chewed to pieces by the foxes. On the other hand, we 

 now began to regard many things as treasures to which formerly 

 we had paid little or no attention, such as axes, knives, awls, 

 needles, thread, shoe twine, shoes, shirts, socks, sticks, strings, 

 and similar things which in former days many of us would not 

 have stooped to pick up. We all realized that rank, learning, 

 and other distinctions would be of no advantage here in the 

 future or suffice as a means of sustenance; therefore, before being 

 driven to it by shame and necessity, we ourselves decided to 

 work with what strength we had still left, so as not to be laughed 

 at afterward or wait until we were ordered. Thus we five^" 

 introduced among ourselves a community of goods with regard 

 to the victuals we still had left and arranged our housekeeping 

 in such a manner that at the end there might be no want. The 

 others of our party, three cossacks, and the two servants of 

 the Captain Commander, ^^^ whom we later took over, we man- 



about 3 miles to the east (see map, PL II). To the northwest there are 

 several small creeks much nearer, the first one about JA, mile, the third one 

 a little more than i^^^ mile distant. One of these is probably meant. (S) 



337 The MS reads "we five Germans." The following persons are meant: 

 Steller, Betge, Plenisner, Roselius, and Boris Sand, the addition of the 

 last-named to the group, if it be he, being mentioned below under Novem- 

 ber 15 (p. 151; see also, below, footnote 348). (G) 



338 This is obviously the meaning, although strictly the published ver- 

 sion reads: "The other three cossacks of our party and the two servants." 



