I50 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



to work for our own benefit as well as for the welfare of the others 

 and by our exertions to support loyally their strength and under- 

 takings. 



Today 2^2 i brought the Captain Commander a young, still 

 suckling sea otter and counseled him in every way and manner 

 to let it be prepared for himself in default of other fresh food, 

 but he showed a very great disgust at it and wondered at my 

 taste, which adapted itself to circumstances.^^^ He much pre- 

 ferred to regale himself with ptarmigans as long as possible, of 

 which he received from our company more than he could eat. 



On November 13 the building of dwellings was continued. We 

 divided ourselves into three parties; the first w^nt on the vessel 

 to work in order to bring the sick and the provisions ashore; the 

 others dragged home great logs a distance of four versts from 

 Lyesnaya Ryechka^-*^ (Wood Creek), thus named by us; I, how- 

 ever, and a sick cannoneer ^^^ remained at home, I attending to 

 the kitchen and the other making a sled for hauling wood and 

 other supplies. While thus taking upon myself the office of cook 



342 Owing to the transposition mentioned in footnote 334 this episode 

 in the MS still falls under November 12. 



«" An educated Englishman, the late Captain H. J. Snow, than whom 

 no white man had more experience with the sea otter, has this to say on 

 the same subject: "Steller, in speaking of the flesh of the otter, describes 

 it as savory and delicious. There is no accounting for taste, of course. I 

 have tried it on many occasions cooked in various ways, but a more dis- 

 agreeable, ranker-tasting meat I have yet to find. Not a hunting season 

 would pass without someone trying it. The sailors, both Chinese and 

 Japanese, whom I had at different times, ate crow, shag, gull, fox, whale, 

 and, of course, seal, fur-seal and sea-lion, but they always gave otter-flesh 

 the go-by" (In Forbidden Seas, London, 1910, p. 279). (S) 



3" This is the stream debouching at "Polovina" on the map of Bering 

 Island (PI. II) ; its valley forms part of a transverse depression across the 

 island terminating on the other side in Gladkovskaya Bay. (S) 



s« Probably Michael Chechuev, mentioned as cannoneer in the list in 

 Vol. I, p. 235. The only other cannoneer of the expedition, Ilya Derga- 

 chev, does not come into consideration, as, according to Steller, he had 

 already died or, according to the log book, was to die in two days (see, 

 above, footnote 331). 



