i86 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



of Kamchatka. We made it just in the neighborhood of Cape 

 Kronotski and on account of the thick and foggy weather did not 

 see it until we were about a mile^^^ from shore. Nevertheless, 

 the decision to go to the port [Avacha], from which we were yet 

 30 miles away, was adhered to. However, as under the lee of 

 Kamchatka we had either complete calm or head winds the whole 

 time, we spent nine days more in tacking, until at last, on the 

 26th of August, in the night, we arrived at the entrance of the 

 bay [of Avacha], after having used the oars for twenty-four hours 

 without a break, and on the 27th, in the evening, in the long 

 desired harbor [of St. Peter and St. Paul] itself.^ss 



Great as was the joy of everybody over our deliverance and 

 safe arrival, nevertheless the news^^^ which we received from a 

 Kamchadal'^^s at the very entrance caused a much greater ex- 

 citement.^^'' We had been regarded by everybody as dead or 

 lost; the property which we had left behind had fallen into the 

 hands of strangers and had mostly been carried away. There- 

 fore, in a few seconds joy turned to anxiety in the hearts of all 

 of us.^° However, we were all by this time so much used to 



«5 The MS has "scarcely a mile." The log book (Vol. i, p. 247), 10 

 A. M. entry on August 17 (both astronomical and civil), gives 3 German 

 miles. 



456 The log book (Vol. i, p. 256) says that the entrance to Avacha Bay 

 was reached at 5 A. M. on August 26 (both astronomical and civil) , that 

 the vessel anchored there until 11 A. m., when she proceeded to the 

 Harbor of St. Peter and St. Paul in the interior of Avacha Bay, reaching 

 the harbor at 2 p. M, on August 27 (astronomical; August 26, civil). 

 «7 The MS has: "the adverse and unexpected news." 

 *58 The MS has in addition: "who paddled out to the vessel in his 

 baidar." See the log book, August 27, astronomical date, 8 A. M. entry 

 (Vol. I. p. 256). 



«» The MS has in addition: "and complete forgetting of self." 

 *6o This sentence in the MS reads: "Therefore joy alternated with 

 sorrow repeatedly in a few seconds according to the nature of the news 

 about general and special happenings." This may possibly be interpreted 

 to mean that some heard that their belongings were still there and could 

 be regained, others that theirs had already been dissipated; also that 

 some, on hearing a general situation described, believed themselves un- 

 affected by loss, but on questioning about their own particular property, 

 found that they had lost it. 



