132 BERING ON THE AMERICAN COAST. [1741. 



impression. Cook, when he explored the north-west coast of Amer- 

 ica, in 1778, applied the name of Mount St. Elias to a stupendous 

 peak which he observed, rising from the shore, under the 60th 

 parallel, believing it to be, as it most probably was, the same dis- 

 covered by the Russians in 1741. Vancouver, who examined this 

 coast minutely in 1794, was convinced that the place where the 

 Russians first anchored is on the eastern side of a bay at the foot 

 of Mount St. Elias, on the east, which is called Admiralty or 

 Bering's Bay, on English maps, and Yakut at on those of the 

 Russians. The current of discolored water, setting out from that 

 part of the coast, was observed, in 1838 by Belcher. 



After their departure from the island, the Russians continued 

 sailing westward, occasionally seeing the land in the north, until the 

 3d of August, when, in the latitude of 56 degrees, they beheld a 

 chain of high mountains, (those of the great peninsula of Aliaska, 

 and the contiguous island of Kodiak,) stretching before them from 

 north to south. Upon discovering this impediment to their prog- 

 ress, they turned to the south-west, in order to reach the 53d 

 parallel, under which they were sure, from their observations in 

 coming out, that they should find an open sea to Kamtchatka : but 

 their course was so much retarded by violent opposing winds, that 

 they had scarcely advanced sixty miles before the end of the month ; 

 and, being then exhausted by fatigue and sickness, they anchored 

 among a group of small islands, on one of which they remained 

 ashore several days. There they first saw natives of America, who 

 resembled the aborigines of Northern Asia in their features and 

 habits, and were provided with knives, and other articles of iron 

 and copper ; although they appeared never before to have held 

 any intercourse with civilized people. There, also, occurred the 

 first death among the Russians, in commemoration of which, the 

 name of the deceased sailor, Schumagin, was bestowed on the 

 group. The islands now so called are about ten in number, situated 

 near the latitude of 55^ degrees, on the eastern side, and not far 

 from the extremity of Aliaska. 



On quitting the Schumagin Islands, the Russians continued their 

 course south-westward, and passed by other islands, which were 

 those of the Aleutian Archipelago, extending westward from Aliaska, 

 nearly under the 53d parallel. They were then assailed by furious 

 storms, and were, for nearly two months, driven over the seas at 

 random, while famine, disease, and despair, were daily lessening 

 their numbers. " The general distress and mortality," says Steller, 



