THE AMERICAN VOYAGE 243 



burg,2 Qn which I extend hearty congratulations and can wish 

 nothing better than to see Your Highness there soon. 



On the American voyage that I undertook I have been more 

 than abundantly penalized for my curiosity and hardly escaped 

 with my life, but nothing hurt and distressed me more than to 

 have had the most excellent opportunities for being able to 

 accomplish something worth while and not to ha\e been per- 

 mitted to make use of them owing to the lazy and pompous 

 conduct of the officers Waxel and Khitrov, who placed nothing 

 short of a traged>^ which opened airily and joyfully and ended 

 mournfully with the wreck of our ship on an unknown and un- 

 inhabited island. We landed on the island on November 6, 1742.^ 

 Thirty^ of our party died miserable and pitiable deaths, among 

 them the Captain Commander, who died miserably under the 

 open sky on December 8, almost eaten up by lice. Had my pro- 

 posal been accepted, based, as it was, on accurate and carefully 

 collected information in Kamchatka, we should, on the second 



of Kamchatka, which was part of the task allotted to the scientists, 

 and his obvious competence and fitness, removed a great burden from 

 GmeHn's mind. He decided to leave this work to Steller and to request 

 permission to return to St. Petersburg. This was granted. The return 

 journey consumed three years, as on it Gmelin continued his investiga- 

 tions. It included the descent of the Yenisei to Turukhansk near the 

 Arctic Circle, the crossing of the Baraba Steppe between the upper 

 Irtysh and the upper Ob, a study of the Caspian region, and a detailed 

 investigation of the mineral districts of the Urals. He reached St. Peters- 

 burg in February, 1742 (Robert Gradmann, prefatory life of Gmelin in 

 Otto Gmelin, op. cit., pp. 7-1 1). 



Gmelin's main contributions were in the field of botany. His main 

 work, which contains many geographical and phytogeographical observa- 

 tions, is "Flora sibirica," 4 vols., St. Petersburg, 1747-69. His travels 

 were described in his "Reise durch Sibirien," 4 vols., Gottingen, 1751-52. 



2 As the preceding footnote shows, Gmelin's recall was solicited. It 

 came as a great relief to him. 



3 This should, of course, be 1741. 



4 This count tallies with Steller's statement in his journal (above, p. 

 154) but not w'ith Waxel's official list (Vol. i, pp. 281 -282; but see there 

 p. 282, footnote 6). 



